


Home Safe

by Pixie_Dahling



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mystery, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Romance, Roommates, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 42,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27956417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixie_Dahling/pseuds/Pixie_Dahling
Summary: When Hermione is forced to move out of her house after being the target of a hate crime, she finds herself as the new flatmate of a certain Slytherin. Tasked with the job of finding out who was responsible for recent attacks, will her new living situation be too much for the Gryfindor to handle. Post-war. Slow build romance. Also mystery elements. My first fic so be kind!Heavily inspired by Bex-Chan's fanfictions.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 24
Kudos: 94





	1. A Fire

You never quite know what's going on when you're in a house fire. Even once the fire alarm goes off and the smoke reaches your nose it takes your brain a good few seconds to realise the choking sensations in your lungs aren't just another bad dream. Considering Hermione had been around enough smoke in her life you would expect her to be slightly quicker in noticing the threat as it crept down her throat, however if anything, the distance in time had made her far more vulnerable than anyone had realised. It was only once she had actually begun choking that she realised what was going on, then another two minutes for her to begin the actual action to accompany her panic.

  
Hermione’s feet hit the wooden floor, she registered the alien heat of the wooden panels before finally acting on the instinct that had been drilled into her during her final years at hogwarts. She grabbed the scarf on the back of her door and gripped her wand tight, before crouching low and running to the door of her room mate to, thankfully, find it already swinging open to reveal an equally disheveled Luna. Hermione grabbed Luna’s hand without a second thought before dragging her down the stairs as she wrapped her scarf round over her nose. The two almost falling down the stairs before arriving at the door of their other roommate, but Cho’s door was already swung open. The two exchanged a panicked look before finally speaking.

  
“You get out, I’ll find the source and stop it” Luna stared at Hermione with concerningly wide eyes before shaking herself out of it then nodding furiously. She gave Hermione’s hand a final squeeze before darting towards the front door and grabbing the hallway phone on her way.The second the smoke had blocked her view of Luna, Hermione assessed her surroundings, before seeing the smoke and light growing thicker down the small set of stairs that lead to her kitchen. She took one more breath before scrambling towards the heat. And there it was.

The fire had swallowed the whole of the far wall, taking the dining table and now a large portion of the ceiling with it. A thousand panicked thoughts swarmed Hermione’s head for an instant, her breath catching due to fear more than smoke and the lack of grip on her wand being the thing to trigger her back into action. She took as deep a breath as possible before focussing all her energy into an Aguamenti. The water poured from the tip of Hermione’s wand instantly, the sound of rushing water bringing an odd sense of calm to Hermione’s head before she began to douse the flames. She felt the smoke cloud her brain for an instant as more of it escaped from the dying fires.

It was only once Hermione had dealt with the cooker and countertops that she heard footsteps coming to join her. She felt Luna's fingertips on her shoulder before feeling a sprinkling of water on her head as Luna tackled the ceiling, followed closely by the sound of Cho directing the help that had finally arrived. Finally, once nearly all those in the kitchen, which was now Cho, Luna, Hermione and five aurors were thoroughly wet through, the fire was completely extinguished and Hermione ceased her spell.

Hermione looked to Luna and gave her a weak smile, going to offer some words of comfort before feeling her chest tighten. A combination of the smoke in her lungs and the strength and length of time she cast the last spell caught up, Hermione felt her legs giving way before she passed out.

\----

The next thing Hermione registered was the weight of a duvet on her abdomen and a mask strapped over her mouth and nose, her eyes fluttered open to dimmed down hospital lights… muggles hospital lights. Hermione let her head fall to the side to find her mother awkwardly curled up in the wooden chair by her side. As her senses slowly came back Hermione registered the pressure of a heart rate reader on her thumb and the almost frighteningly clean air flowing through her lungs. Her lungs, the smoke, her house her things; Hermione almost jerked herself up before feeling the uncomfortable pull of the mask on her jaw like a muzzle, her movement clattering the oxygen tank against the metal bed frame causing her mother to wake up.

  
“Hermione! My love, stop, wait!” Hermione felt her mother hand grip her shoulder before the other caching her cheek and facing Hermione towards her worried eyes.“Hermione you're okay, Luna is fine, Cho is fine you all got out okay.”

  
“My…” Hermione's throat was deceptively sore in contradiction to the feeling of the oxygen. She took a second to process her mother's words before removing the oxygen mask.  
“Thank you… How is my stuff… My books? My work, is it salvageable?”

  
“Yes, yes dear, the protection, charm, spell things you had put around the house had stopped it getting to most of your stuff, your bed and your wardrobe are a fatality though” Mrs Granger laughed nervously.

  
“But we can deal with that dear, your work is okay, thank god you got out in time, that you weren't in that bed when… when…” Hermione felt her mother’s grip loosen before tightening on her shoulder.

  
“Mum, mum, I'm fine.” Hermione turned to face her mother, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck and pulling into a fierce grounding hug.

  
“I'm here mum, I'm fine. And now you have the chance to buy me some new clothes? See? Every cloud has a silver lining?” Hermione felt her mums amused chuckles against her chest, before she felt the accompanying tears against her shoulder.

  
“Always the trooper.” Her mother leant back from the embrace, cupping Hermione’s face in her hand before smiling softly.

  
“We’re just going to have to find you a flat for now okay? We can start looking tomorrow, when you have some more strength in you.”

  
“Thank you Mum, really.” Hermione caught her mum's arm before pulling her into a hug. Although the weekend she removed her memory curse is now tainted, having her parents back is something Hermione would never feel more grateful for. After what felt like an age Hermione’s Mum pulled back.

  
“I'm going to leave you to rest my love.”

  
“Okay, could you bring me some fresh clothes in the morning? I can still smell smoke…” Her mother gave her a coy smile.

  
“Already have, you should be discharged by lunch.” Hermione couldn't help but smile, her mother had always known her best, it's where her organisation came from after all.

  
“Thank you, one last thing, before you go?” Her Mum stopped mid standing and turned back to her.

  
“Yes?”

  
“Why am I at a muggle hospital? St Mungos would've taken good care of me? I mean I saw the aurors at the house?”

  
“Because you're my daughter, and I'm a muggle, they may have taken care of you but I wouldn't have known how.” Yet again her words coaxed an amused smile from Hermione's lips.

  
“Well I can't argue with that now can I?”

  
“Well you shouldn't be arguing with your mother in the first place.” Hermione didn't have to look to hear the smile in her mother's words, and even if she could, fatigue was setting in again.  
“Thank you Mum, for everything.” She felt her mum's hand in hers before her eyes closed for another 9 hours.

\---

When Hermione finally woke up she felt uncertainty eating away at her chest. After her exchange with her mother that night she had no doubt that everything was okay, but finding last minute accommodation was never her or her mother's strong suit, and she loved that house. Her, Luna and Cho made excellent roommates, Hermione and Cho would alternate cooking with Luna making erratically amazing desserts every weekend they stayed in. And when they went out they would always get home together safely and spend drunken hours round the dinner table laughing about their evening.

  
Hermione saw her clothes sat in the chair next to her with her phone perched on top and her owl whistle clipped onto her phone case. She called the nurse over and began checking herself out of the hospital, giving her parents address as accommodation to avoid any complications before getting changed and texting her mum asking for a lift home. Only once she knew she had enough time to write did she write two little notes to Luna and Cho asking if they were okay before blowing in the whistle to find Pigwidgeon flying through the just open hospital window.

Of all the bizarre things to gain from her brief relationship with Ron stealing his owl wasn't one she expected, however the little owl had always taken a liking to her and in cases like these, her small size removed the risk of her being seen by the surrounding muggles. Also she was cute as hell, and Ron had gotten very used to using Hermione's Tito owl, so it all worked out for the best.

  
Hermione felt the little owl on her shoulder before Pig began nuzzling behind her ear, coaxing a smile from Hermione, as well as gaining her some confused looks by passing nurses who couldn't see the tiny owl buried in her untameable hair. Once the coast was clear Hermione placed the little owl on her desk before tying the notes on then giving her a kiss goodbye. The best thing was that she could trust Pig to be fast, and compared to past owls she'd dealt with she knew Pig would find her way back to her mother's house without specific instructions.

  
It was only a few seconds after that Hermione felt her phone buzzing and telling her, her mum had finally arrived at the hospital. After a few minutes of light arguments with the nurse who obviously thought a lie-in meant concussion, Hermione was in the car next to her mum nursing a mocha and pain au chocolat.

  
“Thank you again mum, I couldn't have gotten through the day on hospital food.”

  
“Oh you’re not done yet! Open the glove compartment.” Hermione regarded her mum's excitement cautiously leaning forward and clicking open the compartment only to find a now cascading pile of newspaper and magazine cuttings falling onto her lap.

  
“What's this?” Hermione laughed.

  
“They’re accommodation options! I mean none of them are nearly as lovely as your room in Kensington but some of them really are gorgeous! I've drawn little stars on all of my favourites and I've drawn little hearts on all the ones I'll think you'll like.”

  
“And all of them are -”

  
“All of them are no more than a 30 minute commute to the Ministry.”

  
“Mum! You've out done yourself!” Hermione leant over the gear stick and rubbed her mum's shoulder to show her appreciation, she knew her mum would appreciate the rare show of affection.

Her mum beamed at her before returning her concentration back on the road. With more enthusiasm than expected Hermione began to flick through the small mountain of cuttings, after a while of browsing she noticed her mum had organised them into sections, with the none recommended ones being on the top and the both Hermione and Mum approved ones at the bottom. And rightly so, the first few were okay, but she could see why her mum hadn't liked them herself nor picked them for her.

The ones her mum had picked were often beautiful, Hermione couldn't believe that they were all available in London, however she also noticed her mum had often picked muggle apartments rather than the ones in the magical neighbourhoods. And furthermore an annoying amount of the shared flats her mum had picked had male roommates.  
Since Ron, Hermione had noticed her mum being worried, and she had tried to set Hermione up on dates before but after the first few Oxford and Cambridge candidates Hermione was more than happy to find what she needed on nights out.

  
“Mum…”

  
“Yes Hun?”

  
“You know my life isn't a rom-com right?”

  
“What?”

  
“ I'm not gonna move in with some amazing guy and fall for him.”

  
“I know but I thought without Ron you might need some security and -”

  
“Mum I'm fine! I'm over Ron I really am, I know it's only been a year but trust me, I'm okay, anyways, I've managed this far haven't I?”

  
“I suppose.” Hermione's mum flashed her a grin. “So I can't set you up anymore?”

  
“No, no more setting me up! I'll consider the flats but only for the space!”

  
“Fine, fine, you'll read their profiles though?”

  
“No!” She couldn't help but laugh at her mum's persistence. “From now on, I'm going to ignore them completely until I've shortlisted the rooms.” She felt her mum's sight rather than heard it.

  
“Fine. At least I tried my best.”

  
“And I appreciate it, I really do, I just don't need anyone, I'm happy I really am, anyways me and Ron are still friends it's not like I'm pining or anything.”

  
“Okay, okay, just let me know when you have your top ten okay?”

  
“Sure.” Hermione beamed back at her mum before burying herself in the paper all over her lap. She had never been happier for a Saturday.

\---

By the time they'd reached her parents house, Hermione had ordered her top ten flats, the process was more taxing than she had expected but the idea of re-designing a new room was somewhat exciting, it was always I guilty pleasure of hers.

  
The bottom three apartments in her ten were all in slightly less appealing areas of outer London, but the spaces themselves were nice enough, the next two were in a perfect place but would need a significant amount of work which Hermione just wasn't sure if she could afford. The next three were similarly in a perfect place, but instead of needing the work the rent itself was just a little too challenging for her to really love the flats. And finally the last two were nearly perfect, however, annoyingly, both had flat mates, one of which was far too detailed for it to be comfortable and the other vague enough for her to be wary but informed enough to intrigue her.

Once they were sat at the dinner table with a cup of tea Hermione and her mum narrowed down the apartments, due to her parents early retirement thanks to the memory charm they were in no place to help her with rent, therefore all five of the slightly more expensive flats had to be discarded. Just as her mum picked up her phone to organise viewings for the two muggle flats Hermione heard the beating of little wings through the kitchen window.

  
Hermione could hear let alone see the heavy little bundles tied round Pig’s legs, it was adorable to see this tiny bird almost collapsing on the formerly tidy pile of throwaway apartments. Hermione cupped her hands round Pigwidgeon and rested her on her shoulder before untying the two completely wonky notes. Characteristically, Luna’s note was beautifully long and rambling and contained a tiny parcel of lavender from Luna’s room that she'd managed to save, the letter in short said that she too, had returned to her father's house, however the school which she had been working at was closed for the summer regardless so she, unless Hermione needed her, would only be finding another apartment in a few months time.

Cho’s on the other hand simply stated she was safe and she was glad Hermione was too, and that she too had no need to move back to London with any speed. Despite knowing how much she would miss her friends, Hermione was somewhat glad she didn't have to factor them into the plans her and her mum had already made. After writing two similarly brief updates to the girls and sending them off with Pig, Hermione called over her family owl Hermes.

Hermione's Father and her had invested in the barn owl as a Christmas present for her mother in her first year at Hogwarts. They both knew how much her mum hated being out the loop and Hermes came in handy in times like these when a domestic owl was necessary. Hermione wrote a letter of interest for the other three flats and cast a spell to copy the letter before tying them both on to Hermes’ leg and telling him the address before watching him fly out the window after Pig.

After two more cups of tea and a few episodes of friends Hermione had heard back from all four apartments. One of the three magic flats had already been sold, however the other two had free viewings for the next week, with the two muggle flats also being available to be looked around within the next two weeks. All things considered, Hermione felt okay about the whole ordeal, until a ministry owl flew in through her window.

  
Knowing her mother would fuss the second she saw it Hermione apprehended the brown owl and took the surprisingly heavy package before half throwing the owl back out the kitchen window.

  
“Hermione? What was that?”

  
“Nothing mum, just another letter.” Hermione headed straight up to her room before unfolding the package to find a Daily profit dated for the next day and a letter signed by Harry.

_Dear Hermione_

_I heard what had happened to your home. I'm glad to hear you're okay and I'll see you at work on Monday._  
_I am working this weekend and I've been overhearing the aurora reports they think it may have been a targeted attack, they aren't sure but I'm not the only person who heard them. I managed to grab this copy of the Prophet before they go out to everyone tomorrow._  
_Just wanted to give you a heads up to get somewhere to stay before the ministry messes up any plans you've made._  
_As always just owl me if you need me._

_Harry -_

A grim curiosity filled Hermione, she unfolded the prophet to find the blaring headline ‘Hogwarts Hero Up in Smoke’, with a detailed article about the fact ‘half of their house had been ravaged by uncontrollable flames’, and that Hermione and her friends had been ‘forced out of their home by a horrific case of arson in an attempt to kill the Hogwarts veterans’.

  
Hermione muttered an incantation under her breath before levitating the paper in the air to watch it burn. There were a number of things which pissed Hermione off about the article, being called a ‘veteran’ at the ripe old age of 20 didn't help much, but what annoyed her the most was the fact that it was largely correct. Although none of them were hurt they were forced out of their home, and now, thanks to a careless auror she could nearly guarantee she'd lost her viewings of the magic apartments, which left her with her least favourable muggle apartment.  
Thankfully the paper hadn't gone out yet so she still had a few more hours to look for muggle apartments. Which is how she ended up spending the rest of that evening.

When Hermione woke up her pessimism was taking over. She'd managed to avoid telling her mum of the newspaper report to save her worrying, however neither of them had managed to find any more muggle apartments, and by the sound of her mum coming up the stairs with a tray of food, they had heard back from the magic flat owners and the news wasn't great. Hermione's mum pushed open her bedroom door and greeted her with a far too reassuring smile.

  
“Morning my love! How did you sleep?”

  
“Well thanks mum, what's with the breakfast in bed.”

  
“You're not home often, so when you are I'm allowed to treat you!” Her kindness made Hermione smile regardless of the reasons behind it.

  
“Anyways, you've been through a lot these past couple of days, this is the least you deserve.”

  
As Hermione sat up her mum sat next to her, waiting until she was up properly before placing the tray of tea, a pain au chocolat on her lap and two already open letters on her lap. Despite her curiosity regarding the lack of a third letter and the content of the other two, Hermione resisted opening them, eating her breakfast and finishing her tea while finding out about her mother's current job hunt.

In a both unfortunate and convenient turn of events, Hermione’s grandparents had passed away soon after she had removed the memory spell from her parents, which meant on moving back to England they not only had a home but enough money to allow them to live happily. Her grandparents were significantly wealthy, however neither of her parents had wanted to live off someone else, so if they chose to they wouldn't have to work for the rest of their lives with the money left to them.

However like Hermione, neither of her parents could stand doing nothing, so her father had already started working as a dentist again and her mother was still looking for a local job. It was nice to hear from her parents. Despite their self acknowledged confusion of their move to Australia their life had remained somewhat unchanged, so Hermione took pleasure in hearing about the muggle norms that she no longer had. Just hearing her mum talk about emails and the wonders of her phone to help find a new job always left Hermione musing about what if she hadn't gone to Hogwarts, or met Harry or Ron.

  
But for now she had no time to sit and muse. The letters in her tray remained untouched and she could see her mum getting tetchy about the whole thing having already read them. Her mum, seeing her anxiety, took the tray and passed Hermione the two letters.

  
“It's not that bad sweetheart really, give them a read, anyways, we still have two viewings tomorrow.”

  
“Two? I thought there were three wizard flats on offer?”

  
“There are? I'll let you give those a read. I'm not sure I understand but what would I know anyways.” Her mum laughed nervously before leaving Hermione to it.

Hermione had kept a lot from her parents, including her level of involvement in the war itself. So she could understand her mother's confusion after reading the letters, both letter gave a similar excuse from the owners of the flat, saying that although they are sure she would be a great roommate and that they are thankful for her service to the wizarding world, they cannot risk their living space considering the unknown nature of her having to leave her last apartment.

They both wished her luck but went on to decline any contact until Hermione knew she was safe. Hermione wanted to be pissed off but couldn't, she could imagine the worry that would accompany her staying with anyone in the wizarding world, it was just a shame they could only find one suitable muggle flat in London. The pricing was vastly different between the two worlds so regardless of the almost cheap prices of wizarding land in London due to the muggle population, the muggle prices were through the roof.

  
The one thing that continued to puzzle Hermione however was the silence from the last wizard property. It was by far the nicest one however it was also the flat with the vague description of the owner. Hermione thought briefly about owling the agent or even the owner directly but she didn't want to jeopardise this flat, and more importantly she didn't actually know who the owner was or how to contact them. So instead she owled the agent just asking if she could move her viewing to that day, and if the owner them self would be available to give the tour.

  
Thankfully the agent was extremely active, Hermione got a reply soon after getting changed after a lazy morning in bed. The speed of their reply could help but intrigue Hermione more, the agent must be an expensive one seeing as he replies so quickly however if someone was wealthy enough to employ a good agent why would they need a flatmate at all? Furthermore the letter itself, although confirming a 1:30 slot available specified that the owner of the flat was not available at this time, and that if Hermione wanted to move in within the next two weeks then she may have to be okay with not meeting him until after she had moved in.

  
Hermione was insanely curious, at least now she knew it was a him, and she assumed a him with a good job considering he was away for two weeks. But that just reiterated the question of why he needed a flatmate. But considering her position at the moment she wasn't really sure she had another choice. The more she thought about it the more she felt uncomfortable risking the life of a muggle. She replied to the agent saying that she will be there at 1:30, and that the sooner she can move in is the better.

By the time she sent the owl it was already 12:30 and her parents lived an hour out of London. Knowing the traffic on a Sunday and the fact she'd rather turn up dead than late Hermione got herself ready to leave. Packing a small day bag before giving her mum a kiss goodbye and heading out the house to catch a train into London.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to sofie_ravenclaw for the advice on the formatting!


	2. The viewing

Hermione reached the high rise by 1:15, she had already said she would meet the agent outside the building and she had already eaten and written up a draft contract ready for the owner to sign asap.  
She began to poke her head around the corner of the building, the tower was in relatively central London, being two tube rides away from the ministry and one overground ride back to her parents. However the building itself looked more like office blocks. She could see a large logo at the top of the building with the building itself being covered in glass. From the inside it must look stunning but Hermione couldn't see any evidence of the building being residential. After 5 minutes of snooping Hermione heard a car pull up by the side of the building to see a very muggle looking estate agent climbing out.

  
“Miss Hermione Granger?” Hermione bounced over and extended a hand.

  
“Yep, and you are?”

  
“Gary Stone at Stone residential. It really is an honour to meet you.” Gary shook Hermione's hand with both of his before straightening his tie and flicking his wand out of his sleeve. He was about 6 ft wearing a simple black suit and blue shirt, Hermione was impressed. You would often find muggle estate agents this suave let alone wizards.

  
“So I saw what happened in the Prophet? I'm sorry you lost your old house in such a way.”

  
“Yeah it wasn't fun to say the least. However I am wondering what your client thinks about it? I have to say that I was declined by a number of other places because of it and I was surprised he didn't want to do the same?”

  
As Hermione spoke Gary walked the two of them round to the front of the building.  
“I can understand your curiosity. My client is actually unaware of your identity as they have been hard to contact in the past few days, however from what he does know he understands your difficulty in finding accommodation and is in real need of a flatmate due for a number of reasons. I also think that the nature of this space may actually be of interest to you.”

  
“As long as he is okay with it. Would I have to wait until we've met to move in fully or?”

  
“No no, I have known him and his family for a number of years so he said when he first started looking for a flatmate that he trusts my judgement.”

  
“Well if you're sure.” Gary gave her a classic salesman smile before they rounded the corner onto a busy street, revealing two revolving doors as an entrance to a reception desk. As Hermione followed him through the doors Gary held his wand along the wall side of the doors before they entered into a far busier lobby than it had seemed from the outside. Hermione could instantly see that they were all wizards, with owl perches positioned on the wall behind the reception desk giving a scenic backdrop to a gorgeous receptionist.

  
She instantly seemed to know Gary, giving him a beaming smile before nodding towards Hermione.

  
“Another viewing?”

  
“Yep, last one I think.”

  
“Wait, is that” Hermione couldn't help but laugh, she hated to admit it but the response was somewhat common. Gary laughed before giving her a shoulder shrug and leading himself and Hermione towards the elevators on the right side of the desk.

  
“So the flat is only accessible from this elevator, once you sign the contract your wand will be the key of sorts. As you will see you can only tap the button with your wand. The security system here is very advanced so it will detect if the wand is being manipulated against its will, you can also send a distress signal by pressing the button three times.”

  
As he finished his sentence the elevator arrived, letting out a flurry of businessmen into the already busy lobby but leaving the elevator free from Gary and Hermione.

  
“My parents are muggles, is there any way they could come and visit?”

  
“There is a side door to the building that you can control the accessibility too once you have signed the contract, you can also just let Becky downstairs know so is visiting and as can let anyone in.”

  
“Perfect.” Gary tapped his wand on the button for floor 18.

  
“As I said, the client and I both think that the nature of the flat will be very appealing to you.”

  
“I am starting to see why.”

  
When the elevator finally stopped the doors opened on to one of the neatest apartments Hermione had ever seen. It was very open plan, walking into an open kitchen with white marble floors and an island tucked by the kitchen counter. With the floor then opening up to an open living room diner, with a dining table by the wall on the right hand side and a corner sofa facing left towards the window, the flat was obviously built in the corner of the building as apart from the right hand wall and the two rooms on the left the outer wall was wall to floor glass, meaning the whole living room had a backdrop of London. It almost took Hermione’s breath away, the skyline view of London, the clean gorgeous design of the floor space.

It took her a second to realise Gary was trying to get her attention.  
“Yes, sorry.”

  
“Right, so this flat is actually owned by my client, however paying for water, gas and electricity is what you would contribute to.”

  
“Okay, and the rooms?”

  
“Yep, so if you follow me.” Gary led Hermione forward to reveal the flat to be far bigger than she had expected, just past the kitchen counters was a door, with another door being near the centre of the wall on the left.

  
“So as you can see this is the living, kitchenette and dining area, being a half muggle I personally think a TV would go perfectly in that corner in front of the sofa there, but that's my opinion.” Hermione appreciated his humour, but could also tell that that meant her possible flat mate was a full wizard.

After rounding the corner slightly, Hermione could see that next to the sofa was an old leather armchair, it didn't quite fit in to the shiny new decor otherwise but it was perfect because of it. The worn leather had the same tone as the grey sofa and it gave an odd comfort to the room that Hermione hadn't seen before.  
Gary led her over to the door by the counter which clicked open with ease, swinging open to reveal what was obviously the master bedroom with the king sized bed facing the floor to ceiling window. Yet again Hermione was taken aback by the room.

  
“This is the master bedroom, as you can see it has an ensuite as does your room so I have no doubt that you'll find it comfortable, as you can see it is a bit empty as my client has been away for a month or two now, which is another reason he would like to have someone living in the flat while he is away on future trips.”

  
“I was wondering, how come the flat is among offices?”

  
“Good question, so similarly to you, my client found it hard to find accommodation, so instead of compromising he bought out a section of this office block instead, so he doesn't need to pay rent. However, working away as often as he does makes his position in the building vulnerable, therefore having a flat mate would benefit him and the flat.”

  
“Huh, makes sense, can I know who your client is or would he prefer a face to face approach once I've moved in just for speed?”

  
“The latter if that is okay with you, most people have declined the offer due to his insistence of speed over personality but if you're okay with that then that would be perfect?”

  
“Yep, beggars can't be choosers.” Hermione let out a laugh before following him to the other door on the left of the apartment.

  
“And this right here would be your room.” Gary opened the door to reveal a completely empty room, with the wall opposite the door being glass. Hermione instantly started planning out the room, she would put her bed right near to the window and possibly install blinds. Her work could go on the left wall with a desk and her wardrobe next to the bed with a standing mirror being against the window. Yet again it took her a second to notice Gary had been talking to her.

  
“Sorry what was that?” Gary laughed.

  
“Of course, so if you can see this door to your left is the bathroom.” The bathroom was just as beautiful as the room, marble floor with a shower against the window and the toilet on the other side.

  
“I assume the glass is all enchanted?”

  
“Oh yes, of course, a window cleaner wouldn't be able to look in.”

  
“Good to hear.” Hermione shared a laugh with Gary before shrugging her shoulders.

  
“Well I drew up a contract myself but if you have one on you then I'll be more than happy to sign today and move in this week? I don't have much stuff so it'll take me no more than a couple of days?”

  
“You do live up to your reputation I must say, well, how about I read your contract today and owl you a negotiated contract later today? When I receive your signed contract I'll send you over a date to start moving in?”

  
“Sounds perfect thank you. Is there any chance I can move in this week? I know work will be busy in the next few weeks and I would like to be settled as soon as possible.”

  
“That would be fine, yes, if you seal the document magically then I can use that wand trace to put into the security systems.”

  
“Great!” Hermione walked towards the elevator door and pressed the button.

  
“Are there any other offers on the flat? Oh, and here's my contract.” Hermione passed him her paper folder before walking into the now open elevator doors with Gary in tow.

  
“There was one but they withdrew after finding out the identity of my client, it was an old grudge and not one that should be made again I hope. But otherwise most have been unhappy with not being able to meet him before living with him which makes sense. However, if it's okay with you then we're good to go for Tuesday at the latest.”

  
“Again sounds perfect! I'll be on the lookout for your owl then. When did you say your client would be back in the property?”

  
“Two weeks tomorrow.”

  
“And have they set out any house rules for their absence?”

  
“All of that will be within the contract. But mostly just the usual stuff, no going into their room, and there will be specifics on what cupboards you can use in the contract as well.”

  
“Okay, well thank you very much!” Hermione exited the elevator to a slightly calmer lobby, her phone ringing a few steps into the building.

  
“Thank you again, for everything, I'm gonna have to get this so I look forward to hearing from you.”

  
“You too.” Hermione pulled her phone from her back pocket to see her mum's name flashing on the screen.

  
“Hi mum.”

  
“Hi hunny, just wondering when you'll be back, and what you would like for dinner?”

  
“Oh, um, I'm easy for dinner, should be home in an hour or so and if the paperwork goes through then I think I'm gonna take the day off tomorrow and move into my new flat!”

  
“What! Oh I'm so glad! Well done! Stir fry tonight to celebrate. Do you need help moving in tomorrow?”

  
“That would be amazing. See you in an hour or so.”

  
“See you in a bit, love you, bye!” She heard the soft click of the line going dead before dropping her phone into her bag and heading home.


	3. Some Good News

By the same time Monday Hermione was back in her new flat. The ministry was still all over her house so she had owled them after signing the contract just asking if they could send her the loose stuff from her old room. It was times like these that Hermione could really use her job to her advantage. Most people would have to wait months to try and get any of their stuff or see it.

However as she knew most the people working on the house, with Harry being one of them, she could get her stuff nearly instantly. The flat still looked beautiful. She adored the monotone colour scheme with the highlights of the old leather chair as well as the open plan. However the view was her favourite part without a doubt. It took her a while to take in the view again before she realised the lift was buzzing up to the floor.

A few seconds later the lift doors opened to Hermione’s mum and Harry holding two boxes each with a suitcase in tow.

“Hermione! Good to see you taking a day off for once!”

“Harry! It's great to see you too.” Hermione laughed at his dig before running over to give him an awkward yet firm one armed hug over the boxes.

“Here let me help you with those, hi mum! Did Harry help you all the way from home?”

“No just bumped into him on the way over. The ministry dropped a box round mine so I got some bedding packed then I saw him outside the building. He was just saying what a great job you did on finding that thief last week!”

“Well Harry was the one who found the link between their bank vaults.” Hermione moved past Harry and took a box from her mother as well as the suitcase.

“Hermione this flat is beautiful!” Hermione's mum shuffled the last box onto her hip before walking round the flat. Harry moved towards Hermione and nudged her with his elbow.

“So who's your new flatmate?”

“That's the only hitch, I'm not actually sure who they are yet. But I'll meet them in a couple of weeks.”

“Fair enough, working wizards I guess. Where's your room then? I've shrunk a spare bed from mine and Ginny’s place which you're more than welcome to keep. That and a mattress.”

“You're too generous Harry really, I'm over this way.” Hermione clicked open the door to her room. If anything she wished she had found this place sooner.

“Wow Mione, that view!”

“I know right, and with an ensuite.” Harry’s eyes were almost trained on the view as he clicked open the suitcase he brought with him. He pulled a suitcase sized bed out of the case before placing it in the corner of the room and casting an engorgio. The bed grew in size until it occupied the whole corner of the room next to the window. Harry had been kind enough to give her the double guest bed she usually sleeps in when round there's.

“Harry this is too much.”

“I know you helped Gin pick it out, it's the least I can do after everything you've been through.”

“As long as you're sure?” Hermione placed her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze before putting the box down on the bed and opening the lid to see all her books neatly placed in the box. She could see Harry, or some Aurors attempt to organise her stuff for her and she found it extremely touching. But there was no method to the piles and she could tell just by looking at it that with these and her files it would take her another two days to buy the furniture and organise it in her new room.

Still, knowing her mum and Harry were around for this afternoon was something. Hermione turned around to see her mum walking into her room with an equally awe struck look on her face.

“Just, wow Mione. Where do you want this?”

“Just over here mum thank you.” Her mum strolled over and put the remaining box down next to the bed before walking right up to the window.

“So you'll need a bookshelf I guess, and a desk?” Her mum turned around giving the room a proper look.

“Wait, did both of them get burnt too?"

“Umm, Harry?” Harry snapped out of his daydreaming out the window and leant on the bed.

“Umm, no, no you can take the little book shelf tomorrow and your writing desk. The rest is wrecked though.”

“For god's sake.” The weight of what had happened hit Hermione. She'd lost her old room. Her clothes. Her shoes. All the little things she kept under her bed in case of emergencies. All of it. Gone. She took a breath and sat on her bed next to Harry, leaning on his shoulder. Her mum came over, she sat on the other side of Hermione and put her hand on her knee.

“We can get it all back my love I promise. We just need to make a list of what you need and spend some time buying it all this week?”

“Yeah, yeah that sounds doable.” Hermione put her hand on top of her mums. Harry put his hand over her other hand before checking his watch.

“Shit, 'Mione I'm gonna have to go.” He got up slowly before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“You'll be fine, you've been through more than shopping.” Hermione laughed.

“Thanks Harry. Could you tell Kingsley I'm gonna take the next two days off?”

“Ahh, I knew there was something, Kingsley said to tell you that you can take as much time off as you need, you still have three weeks holiday that you haven't used from last year let alone this year.”

“Thanks Harry, I want to try and get back to work as soon as possible though.”

“Damn, I thought we could get rid of you.” Hermione laughed again before pulling Harry into a quick hug.

“See you soon.”

“Bye Mione.” Harry gave a quick wave to Hermione’s mum before walking out or the apartment.

“He's so lovely to you Hermione.”

“I know mum.” Hermione went over to her bed and started moving the boxes from her bed into the corner of her room.

“What's in the suitcases?”

“Oh! I packed some of my clothes and some bedding from home. Unfortunately I can't do that shrinking thing so there is only a double duvet and a pillow in the red case over there. Oh and the sheets are in there too.” Hermione's mum went over and clicked open the large red case which had come up with Harry. Pulling out a surprisingly large duvet and a pillow.

“I don't think you need any spells with that skill mum.” Hermione walked over to the suitcase to find a new pack of bedsheets inside.

“Mum I thought we were going shopping tomorrow?”

“I'm not letting my little girl sleep without anything from her mother in the apartment. Besides, sleeping without proper sheets isn't nice, you know you would've just woken up miserable.” Yet again Hermione found her mother's kindness tugging up the corners of her mouth.

“Thank you mum, again, for everything.” Hermione walked over and gave her mum a hug from behind before unwrapping her new sheets. The sheets were beautiful, white with mostly pastel flowers spreading from loads at the bottom to nearly none at the top. It fit perfectly with the monochrome nature of the flag without being too boring. Hermione passed her mum the two floral pillow cases before doing the bed. It was nice to see something made up in the room. A little bit of perfection amongst the mess. Hermione looked at her watch. 2:30.

“Shall we go out for some lunch Mum? Maybe start the shopping?”

“Sounds great! Regents street is only a cab ride away? How about we get some clothes today? So you're set up for work, I'll leave the Ikea trip for you and your father.”

“Sure, does he have tomorrow off then?”

“Yep, then I'm free Wednesday to help you finish everything off!” Hermione couldn't help but smile. She hadn't spent this long with her parents since Australia and she used to love Ikea trips with her dad. She also couldn't believe her luck. It would take her weeks to settle into a flat in most situations, muggle or otherwise, but she seemed to fit into this place like a jigsaw piece. Hermione and her mum spent the rest of the afternoon in London.

The shopping trip was mostly successful, with Hermione getting at least a week or two worth of work clothes as well as a new pair of jeans. However on getting back to her flat that evening she realised that the one thing she had forgotten to get was something to sleep in. The night before Hermione had slept in some pyjamas she borrowed from her mum but she'd left them at her parents house, and her new clothes were far too nice to wear in bed. After a bit of thinking Hermione sent an owl to Gary asking him if he thought her new roommate would mind her stealing a t-shirt or something. She didn't have to wait long for a reply.

_Hi Hermione_

_Don't think he would mind much._

_Haven't been able to get a hold of him past telling him that he has a new roommate._

_Glad you're settling in so well._

_Just let me know if you have any questions and I would advise you to wash and replace whatever you borrow in case my judgement is askew._

_Best wishes_

_Gary_

Hermione left her new clothes folded in their bags and crept out her room. The view was even more stunning now the sun was going down. From this height the skyline of London was positively gorgeous. She walked over to the other room. She noticed the door had a lock on it unlike hers, which she found curious. But testing the handle the door swung open. The room was slightly bigger than her own, with ceiling to floor shelf space on the wall opposite the door.

She very quickly saw three pristine suits occupying three hangers with the other dozen being empty. Underneath the suits she saw two neatly folded grey t-shirts. Bingo. Hermione left the door ajar and crept across the room, picking up the top t-shirt before turning around to leave. Green. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione spied a green and grey striped scarf folded on the shelf by the window. Curiosity flooded Hermione’s scull.

So they were in Slytherin? What year were they at the school? Did she know them? In an instant the image of Malfoy popped into her head and she let out a laugh. Now that would be irony. From the frying pan into the fire. Hermione shook the idea out of her head before looking out their window. The view was even better from this room. She could just imagine waking up every morning facing the skyline. The window didn't have any blinds so whoever it is must wake up with the sunrise.

It took her a few minutes to snap out of her trance, imagining if she had this room instead. She smiled to herself and took note of the things she likes about the room before leaving and shutting the door firmly behind her. She could imagine herself creeping back into the room when she got bored before realising the subsequent situations she could get herself in to. Hermione thought of a few spells she knew that wouldn't permanently lock the door before settling on one that would just prevent anyone with a wand on them into the room. She enchanted the door then made herself a cup of tea which her mum had brought with her that day. After a quick shower Hermione pulled the t-shirt over her head.

It was perfect, whomever it was, was obviously taller than her by quite a bit, so the t-shirt was more like a tiny dress. However it was soft as anything and smelled surprisingly nice, of mint and aftershave or something of the sort. The last thing Hermione could remember was watching the sunset from her new room. She woke up the next day feeling far better about everything. Her and her mum had made a surprisingly short list of things she would need for her room and her Dad had texted her at 8 saying he’ll be outside of the building at 9:30 with a cup of coffee in preparation for their day together. By 9:15 Hermione was dressed in her new jeans and an old top of her mother's.

By 9:20 she could see her dad pulling up at the curb. She couldn’t help but let a grin cover her face. She ran over to the car and gave her dad a wave before swinging open the car door and sliding into the passenger seat.

“Hi dad!” She leant over the console in the middle and gave her father a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi sweetie, sorry I've been so busy.” He gave her an awkward hug before looking forward and starting the car.

“That's okay, I know how busy you've been, anyways, this isn't the worst I've been through.”

“I know I know, as long as my girl is safe and happy. How's this new place anyways? Your mother is going on about this mystery roommate?”

Hermione spent the rest of the car ride raging about the new flat. She hadn't seen her dad in so long that telling him so much felt like unloading everything from her shoulders. By the time they got to IKEA Hermione was looking forward to starting anew and designing her new room. Her and her mum realised that she only really needed a desk, a bookcase and a wardrobe for her room.

Then just some kitchen things in case the mystery man actually hated sharing their stuff. The day was a good one. Hermione got all she needed before buying some shopping and cooking a light dinner for her father and organising lifts for the next day. She hadn't felt this content in a long while. Hermione had absolutely loved living with Cho and Luna for a load of reasons, but there was something nice about starting with a clean slate.

Her old room had been beautiful because it was homey and full of her old things and cosy for it. However with the aesthetic of the flat already being minimalist Hermione could redesign her home, something that wouldn't have suited her old home at all. Similarly, being able to buy things from Ikea was something she missed out on with her old home as her, Cho and Luna had all gone shopping together. What was also nicer than before was the fact that she was now financially stable enough to afford all the things.

She also enjoyed seeing the look on her dad's face when she shrunk down the four massive boxes and put them in her pockets to carry up to her flat. That Wednesday was the last day Hermione was planning on taking off. Hermione’s mum arrived at the building at 10:30 to give her a lie-in. They spent the day buying the rest of necessary clothing as well as toiletries.

Yet again her mum had been far too generous and bought her a set of fancy teas as well as a small cafetière to use on the stove. Her and her dad had bought all the mugs and kitchen stuff from Ikea the day before so she brought her mum back to the flat that evening for dinner and invited Harry and her dad round for a little housewarming dinner while she still had it to herself. As expected Hermione's dad had to cancel, but Harry owled back nearly immediately saying he and Ginny were free for the evening.

By 7:30 Harry, Ginny and Hermione’s mum were sat at her dinner table chatting about Ginny's new life at the ministry and Hermione’s mums surprisingly hilarious search for a job. Hermione hadn't gone all out tonight, just making some pasta and cake for dessert, only finally sitting down with everyone once the tea was on the table next to the Victoria sponge. Ginny’s reaction to the apartment was the same as Hermione's, spending the whole of dinner glancing around in a mix of awe and curiosity.

“You're so lucky to have gotten this place Mione it's amazing.”

“I know, I think it'll take me another day or so to sort out my room properly though. Otherwise I've settled in surprisingly quite well really.”

“I can see that much, was the kitchen okay to work in? Mum can't wait to come see the place.”

“Yeah it's pretty damn big actually, I'll just have to wait and see who this mystery man is.”

“Fair enough, I don't think I'll be able to handle not knowing. Have any ideas who it is yet? I mean you're already sleeping in his t-shirt.” Harry perked his head up slightly only just tuning in to the conversation.

“What? His? I thought you said you didn't know who the owner is?”

“No I don't, but Gary had mentioned that it was a guy. Why?”

“Oh nothing, I just hadn't realised is all.” Hermione couldn't help but smile at Harry's defensiveness.

“Have you heard from Ron lately?” The question escaped her lips before she could think twice about it. Not that she had any unresolved feelings or anything. But she still cared about him. Regardless Harry seemed pleased that she asked.

“Yeah! Yeah he's doing great! He's really enjoying working with the dragons, I think Charlie's been a really good influence on him. It's been hard to get a hold of him, but he's been asking about you though.” Hermione winced slightly.

“Oh. How so?” Hermione filled her mouth with a slice of cake before busying herself with tidying away the empty plates.

“Only the usual, don't worry he's doing fine.” Hermione let out a sigh.

“I'm glad, really.”

“Yeah, thank you for this though Hermione it was really nice.” Ginny and Hermione’s mum choruses their praises as Hermione sat back down.

“No really, it was nothing. Just a little celebration for a little recovery.” Ginny cleared her throat before sharing a glance at Harry.

“Well we could crack open the Champagne Harry and I brought along.” Hermione couldn't help but feel puzzled.

“How come?” Ginny grinned before looking to Harry and fiddling her hands under the table. When Ginny brought her hands back up she presented Hermione and her mum with a stunning red and gold ring on her finger. Hermione instantly began welling up, she looked back at Ginny before launching herself across the table and throwing her arms around both Harry and Ginny.

“Oh my gods!! When did this happen! How?!” She leant back before pushing Harry playfully.

“Why didn't you tell me! I could've helped or I don't know!” Harry laughed.

“I'm sorry I wanted to do something myself for once.” Hermione couldn't help but grin and looked to Ginny.

“How did that one go then.” Ginny grinned back at her.

“Surprisingly well actually.”

“Oh?” Hermione sat back down and cupped her hands around her tea.

“Yeah.” Ginny shared a smile with Harry before crossing her legs on the chair.

“So I came home from work last Friday, and I found Harry's little dragon. You know from the Triwizard tournament? Yeah, so when I came in the little shit flew right into my hair. And when I pulled her out she had a little note tied round her leg saying ‘follow me’. So she led me to that little balcony we have, and I found a shit ton of confetti and a photo of me and Harry on our 4th anniversary last year. And when I went to put it down I turned into a butterfly and flew up in front of me, and followed it was literally all of the confetti which had turned into butterflies as well and they formed this massive swarm. Then from this cloud came Harry’s chuffed little face, ‘cause by this time I was already astounded. And he flew forwards on his broom and pulled this small little box from his pocket. And the rest is history.”

Ginny smiled at Harry who was now sat back in his chair beaming from ear to ear. Hermione and her mum on the other hand were in tears. Hermione was just managing to keep it together, reaching over the table and holding both Harry and Ginny’s hands.

“I am so so happy for you two, I really am. Who else knows?” Ginny squeezed Hermione's hand and scooted forward on her chair.

“You're the first people we've told, I mean I need my maid of honour from the get go right?” Hermione was speechless. There was so much information attacking her brain and every bit made her even happier. She felt herself crying before she realised she was.

“Really? Oh Ginny.” Hermione ran round her table and pulled Ginny into another hug. She could see her mum crying too. “This is amazing thank you. I swear you won't regret it, you'll have a stress free wedding day, leave everything to me.” Hermione bounced back up before remembering the bottle of champagne.

“So how soon are you gonna let everyone know?” Harry gave Ginny a kiss on the cheek before leaning his elbows on to the table.

“We were only gonna tell close family for now. We've agreed that Ginny is just gonna wear the ring to work and let people figure it out from there.”

“Sounds like the best plan. Ahh I can't believe it guys this is amazing!”

“I'm glad you know, we didn't want to just ambush you with the news straight after the fire.”

“I appreciate it, speaking of, I think I'm gonna take another day off work, I think it would be good for me to just take time to settle in tomorrow then I'll come into work Friday.”

“That seems like a good plan. I mean you've settled in quite a bit but Kingsley is more than happy to give you all the time you need.”

“Thanks again Harry. And thank you Ginny! And congratulations! Again! I'm so happy for you two!”

“Thanks Hermione.” Both Harry and Ginny got up and helped Hermione begin to tidy away dinner despite her protests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading guys! It means a lot! Feedback is always welcome!


	4. A New Case

When Hermione went in to work on Friday she had properly settled in to the flat. She had spent that Thursday putting up her Ikea furniture and putting away all of her boxed things from her old home. She had to wash a load on things as nearly all the stuff reeked of smoke. It had taken her the day to finish but she came in to work that Friday happy that she'd taken the day off. The ministry wasn't as busy as expected. The fire at her old house was the worst thing to happen recently, but that had happened a week ago now, so the aurors would hopefully have already started to get to work, and more importantly the news hype had settled.

Hermione walked to work surprisingly unscathed, with a lone reporter feebly attempting to chase her down the lobby before Dean noticed him and blocked his way. Hermione was an Auror along with Harry and a load of her Hogwarts alumni. She did a lot more of the background detective stuff rather than being in the field, however seeing as she was particularly high ranking she could basically pick and choose her cases so was in the field more than she had expected in taking the job. She knew it would be slightly unorthodox to ask for it but she secretly hoped she would be put on the team investigating her home. But despite being owed the leave she felt bad for taking so much time off and didn't want to push it with Kingsley.

When she finally reached her office it was 8, which was relatively late for her. She came in to find her intern Florence stood excitedly holding a coffee and a brown folded in her hand with a big ‘classified stamp’ flashing on the paper.

“Florence! Hi! Sorry I've been away so long, how have you been this week!” Hermione rubbed her shoulder in appreciation before going to sit down.

“It's been busy. I didn't like working for Dean though I must admit.”

“Please don't tell me he made you get his coffee.”

“I'd be lying if I said he didn't, although I did get you some.”

“You shouldn't have!” Florence reached over the table and passed Hermione the steaming cup before sitting opposite her and almost buzzing with excitement.

Hermione looked at her cautiously, “What have you got there Florence?” Florence feigned looking disinterested and passed Hermione the folder over the table.

“Oh, just your new case.” Florence was grinning from ear to ear as Hermione picked up the folder with curiosity. She checked her wand was in the wristband before opening the folder. The first thing she saw was a wizard photo of the charcoaled walls of her old room peeling, with another underneath with an almost still image of the burnt kitchen. This was her case. Hermione looked to Florence in disbelief.

“You got me on the case? What? How? How did you know?” Florence grinned at her.

“Well I was talking to Harry and we both agreed it'll be a nice welcome back to work. And Kingsley couldn't really say no to Harry Potter and Hermione Grangers intern could he?” Hermione laughed.

“Well he can, and would. But thank you, really thank you.”

“I think he knew as well as me and Harry that you'll be the best for the job regardless.” Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face, she'd forgotten how sweet Florence and Kingsley were. She cleared her head slightly and began to assess the pictures.

“So, what information do we have to suggest this wasn't just an accident?” Hermione knew that she could just read the report, but Florence was here to learn, so sorting through useful information was something she needed to learn before anything else.

“Right. Well, firstly you, Cho and Luna are known to the ministry as extremely capable witches so leaving the gas on or any open flame is very unlikely.”

“But..?”

“But that alone isn't enough. Secondly, the aurors also found an unknown wand trace, but a trace all the same, seeing as you three all work in ministry lead jobs if it had anything to do with you three the aurors would have been able to tell.”

“Better…” Hermione was proud of Florence, she'd obviously been working right in the midst of everything and prepped for Hermione to be back in the office.

“Thirdly, the origin of the flame found by the aurors, although being close to the stove, was actually underneath the heating pipe under your bed, with a second source being found beneath the pipes to Luna’s room, which suggests that you and Luna were very much targeted.”

“Very good Florence-” Florence held up her finger and grinned before continuing.

“And lastly, there was another fire in the old home of Harry and Ginny Potter a few weeks after they left. However, this is still unknown by the Potter’s as the house was left empty and furthermore, as they are still under media protection as enforced by Kingsley, the media didn't know about their move, suggesting that this fire was also targeted.” Hermione was genuinely impressed with her intern. Florence was only two years younger than her but she had started off on such shaken legs that it was almost touching to see how much she had grown.

“Wow Florence, seriously good work!” Hermione splayed out the contents of the file over the desk but found nothing inside in reference to the Potter’s case.

“Where is the information on the Potter’s fire?”

“Ah, all of that I found out from my own research.” Florence moved round to Hermione's side of the desk and put another equally heavy folder down on the desk, laying out its contents of newspaper clippings and typed property magazines as well as a copy of a letter sent by Harry to Kingsley about his house move.

“Seriously Florence this is amazing! If you don't mind me asking how come this is all just you?”

“Kingsley and Harry could only help so much, I don't have clearance to go see Harry's old house, nor can I go back to your old place without you accompanying me. Also if we're gonna start. Looking into Harry's case then we will have to reopen an investigation which I also don't have the authority for without you. But I got everything I could.”

“No, I can see that. Thank you, this gives us such a head start! Coffee’s on me next week.” Hermione and Florence spent the rest of the day filing all the paperwork needed to reopen Harry's case as well as owling Dean and Harry for assistance when they hopefully got the clearance. By the time Hermione got back to the flat her hand hurt from the letters she'd been writing, and her head hurt from her first day back from what felt like a bizarre holiday. And the flat felt like home. Almost anyways, the closest she had to one.

When she finally got back Hermione went straight to her room and pulled on the oversized t-shirt she'd stolen. Although she'd bought her own p-j’s the t-shirt was still the comfiest thing she had. Hermione made herself a cup of coffee and after a quick dinner of leftover pasta and a pastry she'd bought earlier in the day, she curled up on the old leather chair and pulled out her old copy of Alice in Wonderland. Now she felt at home. Before Hermione knew it the sun had set.

She had seen Pig come back a little while ago but she was too comfy to move. She had sat on the sofa the day before but the old leather chair was by far the most comfortable. She heard Pig squawk before hearing the elevator on its way up. For a second Hermione began musing about the nightlife of a wizard who works as late as 10:30 at night, before realising the elevator had stopped on her floor.

Hermione didn't know what to do, who was it? Gary? Should she try and get changed? Hermione was slow with fatigue.

It took her a few seconds to decide on trying to change before whoever entered entered, then a few more to actually move her legs over the side of the chair in a feeble effort to move, doing all of this without realising the owner of the flat had already walked in to see a pair of very naked legs swung over his chair. Hermione heard him come in before she saw him.

“Hello?” Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin, standing up in a fluster.

“Hi sorry I'm Hermione nice too -” Hermione looked up.

Standing there, in a crisp dark grey suit and blue tie was Draco Malfoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might post another chapter during the week as this one is so short! Hope you're all enjoying it!


	5. Arriving home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a slightly earlier chapter, I will post one of Christmas day as well, I'm really enjoying this community. Enjoy!

Draco knew he had a new roommate. Gary had been constantly spamming him with owls and letters. But, as Draco had told him countless times, he was on holiday and didn't want to be disturbed. However, when Gary had said he wanted to call him about the identity of his new roommate this is not what Draco had imagined. He couldn't help but find the irony amusing. Almost laughing to himself before taking a breath and looking back at the equally startled Hermione Granger that stood in his living room wearing nothing but a grey t-shirt.

“Fuck me.” Draco laughed again before looking closely at the t-shirt she was wearing.

“Are you wearing my t-shirt?” A combination of his cursing then finally a question snapped Hermione out of the trance she sunk herself in to.

“Oh... Shit.” Hermione processed the fact she'd been sleeping in Draco Malfoy’s clothes for a week.

“Oh my god what the hell.” She had half a mind to pull the stupid thing off before realising she was stood there in nothing but the t-shirt in the first place.

“Oh my god.” Hermione scrambled around for a second before semi-falling back into the old leather chair in a poor attempt to hide her legs.

“You gonna say anything else?” Draco was doing his best to maintain a smirk rather than completely losing it.

“Are you finding this funny? What the hell Malfoy what is funny about this?”

“How are you not finding this funny? You've got some legs on you Granger.” Draco started snickering before putting his bags down and going to make himself a cup of coffee. Hermione was mortified. She hesitated before crossing and hiding her legs while his back was turned.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm making coffee?” Hermione was taken aback.

“What do you mean you're making coffee? Aren't we going to do anything about this? Aren't you going to kick me out?” Hermione had heard that Draco had changed since the war but this was so far from what she was expecting. Either he hadn't heard her or he was ignoring her, either way Hermione felt herself losing it slightly.

“Malfoy?” Hermione sat up slightly from the chair as she raised her voice.

“Aren't you going to do anything?” Draco glanced at her over his shoulder. He still couldn't quite get over the absurdity of a half naked Hermione Granger sat on his father's chair. It wasn't that he meant to aggravate her more, but despite how much he'd changed since Hogwarts he couldn't help but find pleasure in seeing the size of her hair grow with her temper. She was just the same as she used to be, it's a hell of a good thing he wasn't.

“Malfoy? What the fuck?” Her voice was slightly more annoying this time, but he clenched his jaw and poured his coffee into his cup before reaching for the sugar.

“Malfoy get your head out your fucking arse what are you playing at?” He lost it slightly.

“What am I playing at? I'm giving you a place to live is what I'm doing? It's not like you have anywhere else to go right?”

“What do you mean? Don't you hate me?”

“Well I'm starting to fucking detest you but I'm not the arse I was in Hogwarts and you need somewhere to live and I have a spare room what's your fucking issue.”

“You're my fucking issue! You can't really believe we can live together?”

“Well I'm starting to. And what do you think you're doing!? Stealing my clothes and sitting in my family chair, who do you think you are?!” Hermione couldn't help but falter. However much she hated it he was right, she'd come in to this flat and made herself at home without a second thought, then attacked him the second he walked in.

“Shit.” Hermione took a deep breath before regarding him properly. She may find it hard to believe he isn't the same kid he was but he definitely didn't look the same. It had taken her a second to realise that it was him when he'd first walked in, not only had he grown and filled out, but his face had matured so much past the boy he was at Hogwarts. With some difficulty Hermione cleared her head before pushing her hair away from her face and taking a deep breath.

“Sorry.”

“What?” Draco turned to face her.

“I said I'm sorry. You're right. You came in and I lost it. So I'm sorry.” Draco was at a loss.

“Right… fuck this, I'm going to bed.”

“Don't you want to talk about this? Or were you serious about letting me stay?”

“Let's talk about this tomorrow. I'm tired.” Hermione nodded. Draco necked the coffee he had just made hoping that it’d supply the sanity he’d need to unpack after this… development.

“Okay.” Hermione got up and walked into her room, catching Draco doing the same. she went to close the door before hearing a thud from the living room followed by a string of cursing.

“Granger what the shit is this?” Hermione looked into the living room in confusion. Draco was stood by his door with a red forehead and clutching his shoulder.

“Oh shit the spell.”

“Why in hell is there a spell on my door?” Hermione winced slightly before grabbing her wand and removing the enchantment.

“Sorry, again. I didn't want to be tempted to snoop so I cast a spell to stop me going in. I'd completely forgotten about it.” Hermione focussed on the door, ignoring the furious Malfoy who was now intimidatingly close.

“I'm starting to think you're more effort than you're worth.” Hermione winced again before hearing the door click open.

“There, I'm sorry, again.” She began walking back to her room when the image of Malfoy walking headfirst into the door popped in to her head, Hermione had to semi run in to her room before she began giggling to herself. Who would've thought she'd inflict the first blow.

Draco walked into his room and groaned. Of all the people to be sat on his father's reading chair, of all the witches to be sporting one of his t-shirts, he never would’ve bet his money on the Gryffindor golden girl. A few years ago he would’ve been disgusted with the idea of living with her, but after his father's prejudice led to his own demise Draco couldn’t help but look past the judgements he was brought up with. It helped that his mother never thought the same way as his father, Narcissa, just like Draco, had become a new person since the war. After finding Lucius hung in the living room, Narcissa had transformed the manor and even eventually donated the majority of the property to St Mungos.

It was Narcissa’s idea to send Draco and Pansy to Bali for their 2 year anniversary. It would’ve been the perfect couples holiday had Draco not found Pansy’s messages to other guys. He let out a sigh behind gritted teeth before throwing his suitcase on top of the bed and charming his clothes to unpack and fold themselves away. As his clothes whirled around him Draco massaged his temples, trying to make a list of things he had to sort out now he was home, realising that he still had a week of rest seeing as he’d booked the time off work. He finally felt some relief, that’s 9 days to prepare for the onslaught of questions and sad glances and pitiful comments.

With the sudden rush of relief Draco began to feel the fatigue of traveling weighing on his eyelids, he changed it to his pyjamas before falling heavily into bed. Dozing off to the absurd yet amusing idea that he was wearing matching pyjamas to the one and only Hermione Granger.

* * *

When Hermione woke up she instantly remembered the embarrassment of the day before. She looked at her bedside clock, 7.30am. She laughed at her unnecessary punctuality and rolled over to look out of her window. London looked breathtaking in the crisp morning air, the February mist settling over the streets reminding Hermione of the sea, or maybe that was just her longing to drown right now. Of all the people to have moved in with, of all the boys t-shirts to feel comfortable in, how in the hell is it Malfoy.

What was even more absurd to her was the fact he didn’t kick her out immediately, what had happened these past few years since Hogwarts? And why did he need someone to move in so quickly? Her mind clouded with questions and musings, Hermione finally abandoned the idea of any more rest. She rolled out of bed, stretching her back out and letting out a yawn before remembering what she was wearing… maybe a chat with Malfoy would go better without her wearing his clothes. She got changed into the pyjama set she’d bought with her mum before heading out in to the kitchen.

To her surprise Malfoy was already stood leaning against the counter reading the daily profit, smart black glasses framing his face. Despite knowing he wasn’t going to do anything reckless, her heart rate still rocketed, it was hard not to flashback to the relentless years of bullying and abuse and Hermione was too fragile right now to even think of their tumultuous past. So she didn’t, shaking the thoughts out of her head Hermione cleared her throat, walking slowly into the kitchen.

“Morning… Malfoy.” Hermione cringed as his name fell from her tongue, it felt too alien, or too friendly? Hermione heard him chuckle from behind the paper before he folded it in half, then half again, before placing it carefully on the counter next to him. He cleared his throat before fixing his eyes to hers.

“Morning Granger.” The silence hung thick in the air between them, Hermione wasn’t sure how to behave anymore. She felt the grey of his eyes on her like a spotlight, her already fatigued thought process becoming both slower and more erratic. He had obviously seen how easily she’d made herself at home, but now she knew it was his kitchen her brain couldn’t work out the correct way to act. Draco on the other hand was basking in her awkward stance and panicked expression, although his prejudice was long gone he still couldn’t help torment the bookworm just a little.

He waited a few more seconds, stretching out the silence if only to watch her body tense, he could almost see the cogs whirring in her head trying to work out the appropriate way to act around him, he was her landlord now after all.

“Coffee? You look tired.” Draco turned quickly to hide the smirk breaking through his mask of indifference, opening the cupboard behind him in search of a mug. Hermione stuttered, her brain still couldn’t wrap itself around the absurdity of the situation, Draco Malfoy was offering her coffee, in their flat. Without thinking she felt a school girl retort fall from her lips.

“Why, have you poisoned it or something?” Draco couldn’t help but laugh, his genuine and unexpected chuckle breaking through the tension in the room and allowing Hermione to breath, if only for a second.

“Okay, I deserved that.” Draco turned to face Hermione, trying to be as sincere as he could without being patronising.

“Do you want some? Really? I haven’t tampered with it.” Hermione took another deep breath before nodding, her head still trying to make sense of the image before her.

The kid, boy, asshole that had damaged her so much in her youth was now stood here in front of her… making her coffee. Hermione couldn’t begin to understand what must’ve happened over the past 4 years. That person who had tormented her for so many years has now, somehow, become the reasonable one between the two of them. Hermione watched as he accio’ed a second mug over at the same time as reaching for his pot of sugar, the movements practised and careful. She took a couple of steps forward, leaning against the island counter and sifting through the various questions in her head before settling on the most sensible one she could think of.

“Firstly, are you sure you want me to keep living in that room? Because -“

“Milk?” Hermione stuttered again.

“Pardon?”

“Milk? Sugar?” Draco turned around and gave his best poker face, before getting out of bed that morning he had already decided how he was going to handle the situation, so he couldn’t help basking in his position of power a little bit. Hermione stared at him blankly for a second before cracking.

“Do you want to sort this out or not?” Draco did his best to hide his smirk, taking his time to lean against the counter before fixing his gaze on her again. Hermione glared right back at him in an attempt to get some sort of answer from him, anger only growing with her confusion. Draco broke the eye contact, sliding the milk and sugar over the counter before picking up his coffee.

“Gary is coming over today to amend the contract, I read over his letters this morning and considering the position you’re in and the fact I’m not a dick you can have the room. We will see how it goes and if I really can’t stand you after two months then I'll give you a month's notice before kicking you out. We can sort out the details tonight.” Hermione continued to stare at him blankly, yet again she was the first one to start a fight between the two of them. She reached out for her mug as well as the milk and sugar before making it quietly, her head down in embarrassment.

“Sorry… again, I just, don’t know how to behave around you.” Hermione winced at her honesty, hoping he’d accept the apology so they could actually start the day over. Draco pursed his lips, he had been expecting a slightly more heated conversation and was taken aback by her sincerity.

“Well it isn’t exactly easy for me either.” Draco cleared his throat, grabbing the newspaper and heading over to the living room, not wanting to deal with any heavy emotions first thing in the morning. Hermione watched him walk away, she was glad he’d matured so much, obviously it was good he didn’t want to burn her anymore, but she was almost more glad that he looked more grown as well. Hermione shuddered at the idea of seeing her childhood rival every morning looking just as he did at Hogwarts, not that Draco looked old, just different.

Shuffling her coffee in to one hand she picked up her muggle newspaper and accio'd her pen and paper to write some carefully worded letters to her parents about her flatmate. Hermione looked over to Draco, his eyes trained on his morning paper and his hair still slightly ruffled with sleep. Hermione couldn’t help but let her gaze linger white he was distracted, his jawline had definitely squared slightly since their Hogwarts days, as had his shoulders, but he was still slight. The new addition of glasses making him seem more, human.

Despite obviously being broader he would still fit being a seeker rather than a beater. However despite all the subtle changes, he was still so, well, Malfoy? His hair still characteristically platinum blonde and his skin still frustratingly perfect. Hermione let a hiss of air between her teeth, how in the hell did this happen. She looked back to her paper sprawled in front of her, deciding to leave out Draco’s specific identity to her parents, she didn’t want them worrying about her more than they already are.

As she was writing Hermione heard an owl tapping on the glass in her room. Walking into her room Hermione tapped the glass with her wand, she watched as Ginny’s owl flew in through the opening and perched on her arm with a little roll of paper attached to her leg. Hermione took the letter of the little barn owl before putting her on the perch that was on the wall by the window, uncurling Ginny’s letter.

_Hey Mione!_

_So finally starting to organise this wedding and I’ve realised I have literally never organised anything in my life._

_Is there any chance you can make it over to ours to help me at least sort out some sort of a date and schedule?_

_Love you lots! Ginny xx_

Hermione couldn’t help but chuckle at the redhead, honoured that she was going to be so involved with the wedding of their generation. She instantly scribbled a reply saying that she’ll get changed and floo over straight away. She changed into her comfiest pair of jeans and the mustard jumper Ginny had bought her for Christmas, throwing her Gryffindor scarf and coat over the top. Hermione was about to head out before realising she didn’t know where the fireplace was here, assuming there was one.

Grabbing her phone and wand she anxiously stepped out of her room to find the living room now empty, she hadn’t even heard Malfoy shut his door. Letting out another heavy sigh Hermione tentatively walked towards his room before hesitating. She’d already pissed him off this morning, and every time she looked at him all of her Hogwarts childishness slowly crept back in. But she had told Ginny that she’d floo over and she was too tired to aparate such a distance right now.

She took a breath and went to knock on the door just as Draco swung it open.

“Are you gonna stand there and creep all day or do you actually want something.” Hermione looked up at him, surprised by his slightly disheveled appearance. Draco has left the living room the second he knew she’d shut her door, the awkwardness in the kitchen had been too heavy for 8:30 in the morning and it was almost suffocating, but what he hated more was the idea of him showing his discomfort, and he wasn’t about to now.

“Sorry, again. I was just wondering where the fireplace was in the flat? Assuming there was one…” Draco did his best not to audibly groan but Hermione still caught it.

“You do have one? Don’t worry if you don’t I mean I could-“

“It’s in here.”

“What?”

“The fireplace is in my room.” Draco opened his door further to reveal a fireplace on the wall opposite the window. Hermione gritted her teeth. She was gonna have to get used to apparating places more often.

Hermione couldn’t bring herself to look at Draco, yet again she was having to ask something of him, and it was mortifying her. Hermione couldn’t bring herself to ask, she could just apparate outside anyways, ignore the rain. She went to dismiss the question only to see Draco let go of the door, letting her in to his room.

“Be quick, and don’t give anyone the address, I don’t want any other Gryffindors in my room.” Draco leant against the door frame pinching the bridge of his nose. Hermione looked at him in surprise before looking back at the floor.

“Tha-“

“Seriously don’t mention it, just-“ Draco gestured to the fireplace. “The floo powder is on top of the mantle piece, glass bowl."

Hermione walked into his room as quickly and quietly as she could, grabbing a handful of the powder and turning around in the fireplace to see Draco sat on his bed. She said Grimmauld Place clearly but quietly, not wanting to make the situation worse considering she was going to Harry’s house. As the green flames sprang up she caught Malfoy glance up at her, his grey eyes boring into hers. Hermione’s breath caught in her throat as she felt the pull of the floo network.


	6. Witholding Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Friday chapter, as per usual, I hope everyone is coping with this crazy year and hopefully managed to get through the holiday. Be kind to yourself. Much love!  
> A

Draco had no idea what to think of Hermione any more, nor did he know what to think of their situation. With his old hatred now long gone she was no longer someone he could automatically see as an enemy. And unlike the other two twats that made up the golden trio, Hermione had never intentionally done anything to screw up his life. Granted her intellect has been the subject of his father's constant disappointment in him, but despite the well deserved punch she’d given him his hatred for her had purely come from his upbringing. 

Whereas Harry and Ron had both turned him in to a self fulfilling prophecy in those final years. It’s not that he wasn’t serious about letting her stay, he had read about what happened to her previous place in the The Daily Prophet on his journey over and he was more than familiar with the fear of being a target; but he still hadn’t quite processed the reality of having one of the golden trio living in his spare room. It didn’t take long for a headache to cloud Draco’s brain, too many thoughts and too many questions. Knocking back some Dreamless sleeping draught he crawled back in to bed for some much needed sleep. 

* * *

Hermione couldn’t quite catch her breath, gasping heavily as she landed in Grimmauld Place. She tried not to think anything of it, shaking the image out of her head before being greeted by the comforting picture of the Potter’s home.  As soon as the roar of the flames died down Hermione could hear Ginny’s footsteps thundering down the stairs. Ginny’s grin quite literally reached each ear, her excitement brimming over. The second she saw Hermione she ran over and threw her arms round Hermione’s slightly unprepared figure. Hermione couldn’t help but laugh at Ginny’s excitement, she knew Ginny had been waiting a while for Harry to pop the question and Hermione coming over meant the ball had finally started rolling. 

“Hermione!!! You’re here!! Thank you for coming!!” Ginny pulled back, keeping her hands firmly on Hermione’s shoulders. “I’m so glad I have you to help me out! I don’t even know where to start!” Hermione grinned at Ginny before pulling a folder out of her bag. 

“It’s a good thing one of us enjoys research” Ginny didn’t even look surprised, instantly grabbing the folder from Hermione and running over to the kitchen table like an excited child at Christmas. 

“It should all be pretty straightforward, I’ve colour-coded each section depending on urgency and importance, also I’ve divided the jobs into things for us to get sorted and things that Harry can help us with, I will give Harry his own folder when I see him.” Ginny’s eyes were pouring over the pages, not fully taking everything in but excited all the same. 

“Oh ‘mione” Ginny looked up at Hermione with tears in her eyes, reaching forward to grasp her hand. Hermione was taken aback, she had rarely seen Ginny cry since the war. Ginny properly settled down at the table, opening the folder and reading through it with awe, her face being an open book as to which things she loved and which she wasn’t sure of. Hermione felt an odd sensation bubbling in her stomach, a mixture of anxiety and guilt and something else that she couldn’t put her finger on, and she realised that she just couldn’t tell Ginny about Draco and the flat. 

After the trauma of the past few years, constant fear and anxiety this was going to be the first time Ginny and Harry were gonna be allowed a moment to think of themselves, and more importantly each other. Bursting that bubble now with the almost funny news that Hermione was living with the one and only Draco Malfoy was something she just didn’t have the heart to do, and anyways, she could manage. Hermione had been through far worse and shockingly even Draco seemed like he wasn’t going to be up for any sort of drama. Hermione zoned back to the kitchen table to see a giddy Ginny looking at her expectantly. 

“Your okay ‘mione?” Hermione cleared her throat. 

“Yes! Sorry, just zoned out for a second there” Hermione painted a quick grin on her face before leaning towards her friend and going through the first section of the folder. 

After multiple cups of tea, a couple of sandwiches and a few hours of decision making, Ginny and Hermione had finally settled on a date for both the engagement party and the wedding, as well as settling on a colour scheme of sage, magnolia and lavender.  Ginny somehow seemed even more excited about the whole thing than she had been before. They had chosen the date BLAH for the wedding and BLAH for the engagement party as it gave them enough time to plan and get stuff organised but still soon enough that the momentum wouldn’t burn out between now and then. Before Hermione knew it the sun had begun to tuck itself behind the horizon. 

“Ginny I think I’m gonna have to make a move!” Hermione looked at her watch, 16:30, plenty of time to get a good amount of work done and still have a relaxing evening. 

“Oh god yeah! I didn’t realise wedding planning would be this fun!” Ginny beamed at Hermione before getting up to bustle around the kitchen. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner? It’s Harry’s night to cook and I think he was going to try something vegetarian today?” Hermione laughed. 

“No that’s okay thank you, I think I need to settle in with my roommate tonight.” Hermione heard Ginny gasp as she realised her mistake. 

“Roommate?? Who are they? Anyone I know? they must’ve gone to Hogwarts?” Hermione cringed as she turned her back, collecting her little pile of things behind her chair. 

“I don’t really know much about him if I’m honest, he got back late last night.” Hermione tried her best not to lie, god knows she was bad at it, so she just told Ginny her version of the truth. No matter who Malfoy had been while at school he definitely wasn’t the same boy anymore, so she wasn’t exactly lying. 

“Oh, fair enough, well, tell me if it goes anywhere.” Ginny threw a wink over her shoulder as she put the dishes in the sink before running back round the table to pull Hermione into a tight hug. 

“Thank you so much! For today! For everything, This wedding is gonna be amazing.” Ginny pulled back, holding Hermione firmly in front of her with a huge grin on her face. 

“Thank you for trusting me with everything, I can’t wait for the next few months to fly by.” The two girls just held each other for a short second, both so grateful to have each other. Hermione lunged forward to plant a peck on Ginny’s cheek before heading back over to the fireplace. 

“Thank you for a lovely day my love!” Hermione gave Ginny one last wave before shakily saying her new address and letting the flames engulf her. 

When the green flames died down she found herself looking into Draco’s empty room, the sun had already gone but there was a distinct flicker of a candle that cast shadows around the room. Hermione couldn’t quite see where the candlelight came from as there was a set of low cupboards between her and the bed. It took Hermione a second to move from the fireplace, the concept of being in Malfoy’s bedroom freaked her out a bit and again she just didn’t know the right way to act. But she couldn’t see him at that moment, stepping out of the fireplace Hermione took a deep breath, walking towards the bedroom door before hearing the rustling of sheets. 

She turned around to see Draco asleep in his bed. He looked so peaceful, and so vulnerable. Hermione felt the breath being knocked out of her, seeing him like this somehow destroyed her previous perspective of him. Regardless of the awful child he was at school, here he was, guard down and as vulnerable as anyone else she knew. Before she could dwell on it anymore the elevator bell broke through the peace. 

Hermione jumped out of her skin before hearing Draco rustling awake. Before he could properly wake up Hermione ran out of his room, her heart rate unnecessarily high. Taking a deep breath Hermione turned to see Gary collecting his things from the lift floor and waltzing in to the flat, his salesman grin looking slightly more mischievous than usual. 

“Miss Granger! How are you? How are you finding the flat?” Gary put his bags down and began making his way over to Hermione for a handshake. Hermione still couldn’t quite process seeing a sleeping Draco, let alone what it must look like with her just leaving his room in the dark. Shaking her head slightly, Hermione charmed the flat lights on before going to shake Gary’s hand. 

“Hi Gary! Yes it’s beautiful, just got back from visiting a friend, I hadn’t realised that the fireplace was in the.. the other room.” Hermione struggled to get the words out for a second, the idea of casually saying ‘Draco’s room’ weirded her out a bit too much. 

“Tea? Coffee?” 

“Coffee please! Sorry for not informing you of who your flatmate is, I knew how much a place to live meant for you with your current situation and similarly, Malfoy needed someone in the flat as soon as possible.” 

“That’s perfectly fine!” Hermione began bustling around the kitchen, making a cup of coffee without thinking about it. 

“I must say it was a surprise, he was definitely the last person I expected!” Hermione stifled a nervous laugh before passing Gary his coffee. Before he was able to reply Draco’s door clicked open. The wizard came out looking like he’d been ready all day, his hair frustratingly tame after his nap with no suggestion that had been doing so. 

“Stone, afternoon.” Draco held out his hand to shake Gary’s as he turned to see a slightly blindsided Hermione standing in the kitchen next to two steaming mugs. The atmosphere in the room was heavy, not tense, but in an odd limbo between awkward and guarded. Draco aimed another “afternoon” in her direction before focusing his attention on Gary’s arrival. 

“Shall we sit down? I’d like to make a few amendments to the contract today if you can sort that out?” 

“Yep! I’ve got all the paperwork here.” Gary and Draco made their way towards the living room. Hermione couldn’t shake how uncomfortable she felt, she was usually the one who sorted this kind of thing out, suddenly being at the mercy of her childhood nemesis put an odd lump in her throat. 

“Do you need my input? Shall I leave you to it?” Hermione couldn’t match Malfoy’s eyes, so instead looked to Gary who didn’t quite know how to reply. 

“Your choice Granger.” Malfoy couldn’t cope with how awkward she was, he was expecting some fire from the lioness but here she was ready to crawl into her cave. 

He looked over to her quizzically, only to find her making her way over to him with a mug extended toward him. He had half the mind to ask if it'd been poisoned before remembering Gary was sitting on the other side of the room. The gesture confused Draco more than her previous question, he tentatively took the cup from her, holding the base of the mug with his fingers and the rim with his thumb to avoid any awkward hand touches. He pursed his lips and gave her a nod before she awkwardly smiled back and returned to the safety of her room. 

Hermione let out a deep sigh, she’d never felt so out of place before, and she knew it was well within her rights to have an opinion on her new address, but she already felt indebted to Malfoy and Merlin knew she wasn’t going to be anymore so any time soon. After hearing the door click Hermione turned to see the blue skyline of London, the view almost made all this stress worth it. Fixating on the window Hermione made her way to her bed and curled up by the view before grabbing her work folder from her bedside table and spreading it around her. 

She was still astounded by the independent work Flo had done without her. It gave them a good start to the case and even got Hermione a little excited to start something new. Obviously she would never want any psychotic wizard to be targeting her and her friends, but being able to track them down herself was hopefully going to be satisfying. Hermione could still hear masculine murmurs from the living room, for a second she’d forgotten about her flatmate. Hermione Accio-d her phone and headphones over and focussed on her work, grateful for the distraction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like and comment! I really want to have some feedback! Even if it is just a particular scene of two you liked :)


	7. The contract

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year all! Like and review!

Draco was glad to have some official guidelines for his new flatmate. It’s not that he didn’t trust her character, she’d already proven that she wasn’t going to intentionally cause trouble, he just wasn’t sure if he could behave the same way. Obviously the question of blood status wasn’t on the picture, but she was still best friends with two of the biggest idiots in wizarding history. And Merlin knows he had a temper.

No, the contract was just changed so that if need be, Granger could move out with no complications or delays if anything came up. He also agreed with Gary that her rent would go through the firm's accounts rather than his own. Obviously he owned the flat, but he didn’t want money to come up as an argument. The process only took half an hour or so but Draco’s jet lag was still drilling into his head and his cup of coffee was growing colder, Draco cast a silent warming spell on the mug before taking another sip. Gary read over the final changes before taking out another set of blank papers and charming his quill to copy out the contract.

“Right! These just need to be signed by Miss Granger! Apologies again for not being able to give you a heads up about your new flatmate. What happened by the way? I thought you and Pansy were going strong? It’s been a good couple years hasn’t it?” Gary’s salesman smile was plastered onto his face but Draco could see a glint in his eye that made him think twice about telling Gary the truth.

“Turns out we just wanted different things, getting her out of the flat just made it easier.”

“At least it was a clean break. Hopefully Miss Granger won’t give your any trouble, I mean she’s not the worst person to be walking around the flat” Draco caught the smile on Gary’s face growing slightly wider, he couldn’t quite place what the estate agent had meant by his comment but he wasn’t in the mood to muse over it.

“I’ll go get her.” Draco eased himself up off the armchair and made his way to her door before rather unceremoniously knocking against the wood.

A couple of moments passed before Draco looked at Gary, the two men shrugged at each other before Draco knocked again. Draco’s calm resolve started to melt away as a few more moments ticked by. After what seemed like an age to him, Draco ground his teeth before just opening her door. It felt alien to walk into a room in his own flat and not know what it would look like, let alone finding Hermione Granger sat working inside. Her lamp lit only the bedside and part of the bed, leaving much of the room bathed in a blue light from the setting sun.

The scene looked as if it should be on the walls of a gallery, half of Hermione’s face coated in blue light white the other half softly golden under the light of her lamp, and her eyes focussed on the papers spread around her. An odd bubble began to grow in Draco’s throat, he’d never really seen the golden girl without her guard up, and now here she was, completely distracted in his home.

The rustling of papers caught Draco’s ear and pulled him out of the daze he’d zoned in to. Fixing himself with the most neutral face he could manage, Draco cleared his throat as loudly as he could. Hermione’s curls bounced as she glanced up to see Draco tentatively in her doorway.

She almost laughed at the concept of Draco being in her room, just managing to catch the chuckle in her throat before she took her headphones out. Draco’s indifferent face suddenly twisted.

“What the hell was in your ear?” Hermione forgot the difference between muggle and human technology sometimes, she pushed herself up off the bed, picking up the headphones.

“Oh, sorry, they’re headphones? They mean I can listen to music without playing it out loud.” She held them in front of Draco while holding on to her phone. Draco looked at the bizarre little objects not quite knowing how to react, his mind was racing a little with curious questions about them before he remembered why he had gone into her room in the first place.

“I need you to sign some papers.” Draco reminded himself about the tenuous situation before turning and walking out of Hermione’s room to return to his chair. Hermione stifled a laugh again. Seeing the great and powerful Draco Malfoy all flustered and confused has to be one of the most entertaining things she’s seen. Pocketing her headphones Hermione followed Malfoy out the room at a slightly slower pace. Smiling at Gary, Hermione went and sat on the other side of him and took a look at the amended contract.

She skimmed the papers as, largely, they seemed to be the same as before. However the changes that were made were oddly considerate, no better proof of Malfoy’s growth than a legal document to prove it. With little else to say Hermione pulled her pen out of her pocket.

“Okay.” The odd sensation of feeling both helpless and indebted to Malfoy crept back in to her psyche as she gave him an earnest look.

“Thank you..” Draco clenched his jaw. He knew he had been mature about everything but the concept still made him uneasy, Granger being indebted to him in any way sounded like something Loony couldn’t even think up.

“Don’t mention it.” He knocked back the last of his coffee before getting up to put the mug in the sink. It was a good cup of coffee. The tension in the room seemed to creep up on Hermione, not that she wasn’t aware of how awkward it was, but her naivety led her to think that Gary would act as a buffer, if anything he seemed to be making it worse, or at least slightly enjoying how uncomfortable her and Draco were becoming.

Taking what seemed like an age Gary ready over the documents, checking over the pages once Hermione had signed it and copying the contract for her, Draco and himself before filing them all with an unnecessary amount of care.

“So!” His cheerful exclamation snapped both Hermione and Draco out of the tense space in their heads - “it’ll take me a few days to make these changes but it should be done before Tuesday.” Gary stood up, turning around to address Draco who was still leaning on the counter by the sink.

“Would you still like me to send you some listings in Italy or would that no longer be necessary?” Draco snapped his head up to look at the realtor. He didn't know quite what to say, him and Pansy had been looking for a holiday home in Florence for months before their trip to Bali, but considering Gary was well aware of the situation Draco couldn't help but wonder what in the world Gary thought he was doing bringing that up now.

“I think my answer is pretty self explanatory.” Draco pushed the civil words through gritted teeth while fixing the man with a scowl, but Gary was looking elsewhere, at Hermione in fact, who was just rifling through the papers he had copied for her. Draco cleared his throat, now feeling even more uncomfortable than he had in the first place. The sound obviously got to Gary as he blinked a few times before flashing his salesman grin at Draco and walking towards him with an extended hand.

“Great doing business with you again Malfoy! And you too Granger, yet again an honour to meet you.” Gary shook both of their hands before heading to the elevator.

"See you both next time! I'll be in touch!” His last word was clipped slightly as the elevator door closed, the electronic sound of the elevator heading down filled the silence, but only slightly.

“What a strange man…” The comment caught Draco off guard and a gentle chuckle escaped his throat, he had always thought the same but to hear it being said out loud took him by surprise.

“You're not wrong.”

“Did we just agree on something Malfoy?” Draco turned around to see Hermione looking, well, he couldn't put his finger on it. For the first there was no accusation in her eyes, no hatred or distrust, she was being completely genuine. Draco clenched his jaw.

“I guess we did.” Draco felt the corner of his mouth tug into a half smile before he turned back round to face the cupboard doors in search of a snack. Hermione couldn’t help but blush slightly, she didn’t expect it'd be easy living with Draco, but what she’d expected less was to get a smile, let a loan a laugh out of him.

Happy for the break in eye contact Hermione let out a little, ever so contented sigh of relief before heading to her room. With his back turned and guard down Hermione couldn't help but let another thank you fall out of her mouth before she closed the door. She almost hoped he hadn't heard but he would never know how grateful she was for him giving her a home.

Regardless of what motives he had for letting her stay but she knew how difficult it would’ve been and she couldn't get past that. Letting out a much deeper sigh she felt some of the tension leak from her shoulders before she dragged herself back to her bed and flopped down.


	8. Pizza

Draco heard the gentle creak of Hermione’s bed as he faced the cupboard in front of him, There wasn’t much here considering he only got back yesterday, and some fresh air might be a good idea for his jet lagged brain. Throwing a scarf and coat on Draco made his way outside. 

The crisp winter air caught his breath the second he stepped out the door, Bali had been gloriously hot but the humidity clung to your neck any time you were outside, so the chill was good, welcome, even. He stood there for a second, head tilted back and eyes pressed shut. The street had a glamour cast on it which meant people usually didn't come down it unless they were looking for it, so it was usually empty, perfect for Draco.  The breeze picked up enough to pull Draco from his trance; food, he could smell the local pizzeria in the air and his stomach tugged at his insides. 

He never usually went there as it was a muggle restaurant, but living in the centre of London he had learnt to always carry a few pound notes on him in case, and the pizzas there were heavenly. It didn’t take long to order, he soon found himself sat in the same place he had last time, Draco couldn’t help muse over that memory. 

He had gotten into the habit of eating here whenever him and Pansy had fought. Thinking about it he had been here a fair few times in the months before their trip to Bali. Like him, Pansy seemed to have grown out of their childhood prejudices, but Pansy always had an edge of malice no matter how much she insisted otherwise. When they had first gotten together after the war it was that bite that Malfoy had found so alluring. The fact she would let a little of her inner snake out every now and again, a kurt word to a muggle born waitress or talking over a halfblood at a dinner party. 

Even with his prejudices gone there was something that comforted him, he had thought she did it because it was her way of coping with the transition from the sickening cult that was their childhood. But as their relationship went on Draco began to realise that this wasn’t her coping with her past, but it was her way of indulging in it. Like a guilty pleasure Pansy would go about her day sprinkling snide remarks and shark tooth grins just to make herself feel big again. 

That’s why she hated this place, Draco had begun to make a secret effort to stop Pansy being so petty, and hearing about how good this restaurant was he had brought her there on one of their date nights. And it was wonderful, the food was incredible and when the waiters realised how smitten Pansy and Draco were with each other they left a rose for Pansy when they gave Draco the bill. It was only when Pansy saw him pay with muggle money she lost it. Not at the restaurant of course, but when they got back to Draco’s flat she was furious. 

A smirk graced Malfoy’s face recalling the argument. The whole thing was absurd, she accused him of tricking her and how muggle cooking methods are unhygienic and how they could have noticed that her and Draco were wizards. It was all nonsense of course, she was just being as prejudiced as she had always been. The sound of his waiter's feet snapped Draco out of his trance, nodding at his waiter as his food was slid on the table in front of him. It didn't take long for Draco to finish his pizza, he was a lot hungrier than he had initially thought, he looked at the muggle notes in his wallet trying to work out if he could get something else before seeing a phrase on the leaflet on his table. 

“Excuse me?” Draco gestured the waiter over. 

“Yes sir?” 

“What does this mean? Takeaway?” The waiter looked at the paper quizzically for a second, as if Draco had asked a trick question. 

“Well it means you can take your food home with you sir.” Draco felt like such a moron, it was pretty obvious looking at the leaflet more, and the concept seemed very appealing, he lived so close and he could eat whatever was left the next day. 

“Could I get this again then? Exactly the same, just to bring home?” The waiter smiled in relief before taking Draco’s empty plate. 

“Of course sir.” Draco couldn't help but wonder what Pansy would have thought of this, bringing ‘muggle food’ back into the flat. 

It was that argument with Pansy which led Draco back here after their other arguments. There was something rebellious and satisfying knowing she would hate the fact he was eating here, and it wasn't like eating amazing Italian food was really a chore. While waiting for the rest of his food Draco had a look through the menu again before noticing a side with a few of the same ingredients he’d spotted in Hermione’s cupboards. 

He couldn’t help but remember how many times Hermione had missed dinner in the great hall because she had been lost to the shelves of the library. The thought of grabbing the side as well crossed his mind before he quickly disregarded it, jet lag was definitely clouding his judgement. He heard the bell ring at the counter as the waiter gestured him over, covering his bill Draco took the large square box from the tentative waiter. Draco felt slightly absurd carrying such an odd shaped box around but at least he lived close by. 

Carrying it carefully Draco made his way back to the flat, preparing himself mentally for more tension and awkward interactions until the doors opened. Apart from the faint glow from under her room door, Hermione’s presence in the flat was almost unnoticeable. Maybe this was gonna be easier than he’d thought. 

Walking into the flat Draco put the box down before opening up and being hit with the glorious smell again. Muggles did come up with some good ideas. It took Draco another few seconds to work out where to eat his triumph of the night, he wanted more than anything to just sit in his father's chair but the risk of getting grease on the leather was too high, and he still wasn't in the mood for another encounter with the lioness in the spare room. 

Then it occurred to him that, with the cardboard being as sturdy as it was he could eat the pizza in his bed. He hadn’t eaten food in bed by himself since he was a child, a childish grin broke through his tired cheeks as Draco locked himself in his room, ready to indulge after one of the most bizzare days he had ever had. 

* * *

The smell of coffee dragged him from his sleep, the thought of Pansy treading round the kitchen in the lingerie he got her for Christmas crept into his head as his brain sank in to the in between of sleep and waking up. If he just stayed there a little longer he could pretend it was real.

“Fuck!” Granger's curse snapped his eyes open a second before he heard a smashing noise followed by the sound of Hermione falling over. For a second he thought of turning over and ignoring the day before he looked at his clock. 10:00 am, suitably late for a Sunday, and early enough to shake off the jet lag. 

Draco rolled out of bed, sitting on the side of the bed to take in the misty view before slipping his slippers and glasses on before heading to the kitchen. Looking past the kitchen counter he saw a very defeated looking Hermione sitting on the kitchen floor staring at two shards of what used to be a glass, one small one lodged in her palm and another slightly bigger one in her foot. 

“The fuck happened here?” Hermione looked at him through stray hairs still wispy and frizzy from sleep. 

“I dropped a glass… then fell over.” Draco looked at the floor around her to see the rest of said glass scattered in front of her. 

“I didn’t know you wore glasses?” 

“Not sure that’s all that important right now?” 

“I guess.” 

Draco didn't really know what to do, she was obviously stuck, by the looks of things she couldn't get the glass out her foot as there was a shard in one hand and some smaller bits in her other hand, which is why she also couldn’t get her wand. However the building silence made it obvious that she didn’t feel like she could ask for help, a tired smirk graced Draco’s face as he silently accio’d his wand from his bedside table. Mumbling a spell to clear all the glass on the floor Draco made his way towards Hermione. 

“Want some help?” He heard a small groan from the gryffindor before she nodded. 

Showing him both of her bleeding palms Draco crouched in front of her, pushing his glasses up his nose he cupped her hand with the single shard of glass. Her hands were so cold he could feel her shivering, holding them steady he pulled the shard out of her hand gently before repositioning his wand in his hand to heal it. 

Hermione felt her hand shivering. You couldn’t pay her to admit it but it was partly being this close to Malfoy. He still made her a little nervous and she had been fully intending to have a Draco free morning before her clumsiness had left her sat on the floor like a child. 

It didn't take long before Hermione felt the pain leave her left hand, pushing an awkward half smile through pressed lips she nodded at Draco before reaching behind her to silently accio her wand over to deal with the rest of the mess. She couldn't help but observe him while he went about his business tidying up. 

It was one thing seeing him asleep the other day, but seeing this alternate just awake Malfoy was something completely different. His hair stood in little wisps and peaks from his head and his cheeks were still slightly indented with creases from his pillow, was that stubble shading his jaw. And his glasses made him look, well, human. 

Part of the reason he always got to her at Hogwarts was that he looked so perfect, so pristine and untouchable. Seeing the simple addition of glasses perched on his nose made him somehow approachable, a flaw in the great Malfoy heir. It didn't take long for her hands to be sorted out, now to deal with her foot. Hermione gritted her teeth and pulled the shard of glass out of her foot, she quickly healed the cut before she got her blood all over the kitchen. 

Draco watched from the counter, a very capable Hermione get up as if nothing had happened, and clearing up the droplets of blood on the floor with a simple wave of her wand. He poured half the coffee from the cafetiere into his mug before remembering Granger's gesture from yesterday, grabbing another mug he poured out the rest of the coffee. 

Hermione stood up, leant on her foot to check it had healed properly before pocketing her wand and continuing her quest to make breakfast, one which was apparently more treacherous than she had realised. She regarded Malfoy for a second before deciding to go about her morning as normal, Hermione shuffled round the kitchen, grabbing cereal boxes and milk before hearing Malfoy’s door close. 

She turned around to make sure he’d gone before letting out a sigh. God she’s an idiot. Hermione groaned at her own clumsiness, she took a few deep breaths, coffee? The scent glided down the back of her throat as she realised there was a mug left on the counter. Hermione could see that there was milk in it so it obviously wasn’t Draco’s, he’d obviously made her a cup before he snuck back into his room. 

Not for the first time since moving in, a small gesture by Malfoy encouraged a private smile. Maybe this living situation wasn’t going to be as difficult as she’d thought. Picking up her things Hermione headed back to her room, feeling slightly more relaxed then she had in awhile. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gone in to a 4th lockdown here in the UK. Hope everyone is getting by! And that somehow this fic is bringing some solace. I'd love to hear some feedback! Be kind to yourself and stay safe!


	9. An Olive Branch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is well! As always, kudos and comment! It'd be lovely to hear from some of you! Enjoy!

The rest of Sunday was slow, She received a few owls throughout the day to approve of her request to reopen the arson case at Harry and Ginny’s old house. With a continuous stream of tea and biscuits Hermione sent a few different letters out to the other aurors organising a visit to the Potter’s old house; as well as reading through the scrapbook of notes Florence had compiled about the cases surrounding this one.

Turns out there had been a whole host of suspicious fires started in around the locations of former Hogwarts students. Seamus, Dean, Padma and even Neville had all been living in and around places that had experienced odd fires in the past two years. Although up until Hermione’s house, none of those fires had been started very strategically, or even in the right place.

In Dean’s case, the house that was set ablaze was two doors away from his and got dealt with before the fire spread past the front room. Which could only mean the person responsible for these fires had either gotten more meticulous, or they had started getting help.

Apart from a fairly big lunch at about 2, Hermione took the rest of the day to send out letters to request cases to be reopened, as well as a few owls to get in touch with her old Hogwarts pals. To Hermione’s pleasant surprise the afternoon drifted into an evening of catching up with old friends and organising lunch dates for the following weeks. As 8pm rolled around the nagging guilt of being off work for a few days had lifted.

Untangling the headphones from her mane, Hermione sighed. The view from her room really was something else, shuffling as close to the window as she could. Hermione looked at the streets directly below the flat.

Although the flat was relatively central, the London streets reflected the relaxed Sunday she had had. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione noticed a flashing pizza sign, it was too close to the building to make out properly, but Hermione wondered if that was the place Draco had gotten his pizza from the other night.

As if on queue she heard a door click from across the hall, her heart palpitated slightly. Hermione scolded herself, since moving in Draco had been nothing but genuinely polite to her, if anything he was almost a polar opposite to the person she had expected, so why was she still nervous? Catching her racing thoughts before she got carried away, Hermione picked herself off the bed, throwing an oversized jumper over her leggings and grabbing her purse as she stepped in to the kitchen.

Draco heard Hermione’s door open, from where he was sat in his father chair he could remain unseen if he wanted to, but he was pretty sure that she had heard him leave his room, and the slight skip in his pulse whenever he heard movement from her room was getting old real fast. Clearing his throat Draco adjusted himself in his chair just to make himself known, he didn't want her jumping out of her skin and breaking something else in the flat.

Hermione heard Draco from the old leather chair, glad that he had made himself known, for a second she considered just sneaking straight out of the flat and exploring the area for herself, but she knew full well that sneaking around wouldn't help the nervousness in any way. Feigning a cough she made her way over to the sink to grab herself some water before edging her way over to the sofa.

The lamps around the room gave a softness to Draco’s features that reminded her of when he was asleep, and his glasses still took her by surprise. He looked so much more human than he used to, still annoyingly poised and perfect, but less like he was made out of porcelain. Draco folded his paper in half before reaching forward to grab the tea he had made himself, deciding there was only one way living with Hermione was going to get any easier.

“Good Sunday?” Despite wanting to start the conversation herself, the simple question still somehow took Hermione by surprise.

“Yes.. Yes it was actually, despite the uh, rocky start I ended up getting a lot of work done. Yours?”

“Still getting over the jet lag, could've been worse I guess”

He wasn’t lying, he had spent most of the day sleeping, but not because of the jet lag. Something about a breakup drains you, no matter how dysfunctional the relationship may have been, it felt bizarre not to have another body in the bed next to him. No matter Pansy’s faults she always seemed to know exactly what to say or what to do, it always felt easy to be with her. And now the bed just felt, well, empty.

“I was just wondering, where did you get that pizza from, yesterday night? It smelled amazing.” Hermione made a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, I got it from the place down the road, just out of the flat and turn left, it's on the corner.” Draco leant forward to pick up his newspaper, he thought about telling her about the dish he had seen on the menu but stopped himself.

“It’s that close? Great!” Hermione was glad she didn't have to walk too far in the chilly February air.

Finishing her water, Hermione stood up and made her way to the lift, dropping her glass off by the sink on the way. She wasn’t quite sure how to finish the conversation. It was only as she got in the lift Hermione let an odd bark of ‘thank you’ escape her lips before the doors slid shut.

Draco couldn't help but chuckle at her awkwardness, it wasn't something he was used to and although he wasn't enjoying faking normality, it was becoming increasingly funny watching Granger trying to be normal around him. It took Draco a second to realise that a slight grin had cracked through his previously stoic expression. A smile, brought on by Granger.

Clearing his mind of whatever followed that realisation he noticed that he wasn't taking in any of what was on the paper in front of him, it was still the one from about a week ago but he hadn’t had the energy to read this one yet, let alone the others being delivered every day.

The Daily Prophet was a far more credible paper since Skeeter had launched her own tabloid magazine, but that doesn't make dull news any more exciting. In a final effort to ground himself back in reality Draco scanned the front of the paper for the fifteenth time that weekend before processing the image of a burning house on the front of the paper.

Blinking a few times he looked closer to see the fire being doused by aurors, with a familiar few faces crowded round a mane of hair on the street outside the house. Scolding himself for not reading the paper earlier he read through the article. Suddenly Granger accepting the batshit crazy offer of a surprise roommate made a lot more sense. Equally finding the Gryffindor wearing his t-shirt that first night he came home made a lot more sense now as well.

Draco couldn't help but feel a little foolish, here he was taking the high horse every time they spoke, as if she had any other option. Sinking into his father's chair and moving his glasses out the way he pinched the bridge of his nose. If there was ever a time to curl up in bed it was right now.

Walking into his room he pulled on some new pyjamas and threw the paper in the fire before falling back in to bed. He was so pleased he had more time off work, time for another restless night's sleep.

* * *

The chill night air soothed Hermione’s thoughts for a second, any other day she would've been embarrassed for barking at Malfoy from the elevator, but the combination of a productive day and the promise of pizza took her mind off the little things. It wasn’t like living with Malfoy was a normal situation to begin with.

Following her nose slightly Hermione saw the pizza place Malfoy recommended. Hermione began trotting over, patting her pockets to find her spare galleons before turning the corner to see what looked like a very muggle pizza place in front of her. Hermione stopped, looking more closely at the menu to see pound signs by the prices… it was a muggle restaurant.

She stepped back for a second, looking around the street to check there wasn’t another pizza place that she had missed. But no, Malfoy had recommended her a muggle pizza place. If she hadn't been thrown by his actions before now she was definitely confused now.

Before Hermione could get lost in her thoughts she heard her stomach grumble, regardless of Malfoy’s complete personality change, the pizza here did smell amazing. Hermione couldn't wait to get stuck in. By the time she had finished her food it was pushing 9:30, Hermione chuckled at herself, it was lucky her flat was so close because she felt as if she could fall asleep at the table.

She couldn't help but feel even more reassured about this new development. Draco could insist he’s changed as much as he wants but the fact he eats at a muggle establishment put some action behind his words. Hermione looked at her now healed hand, why did she need more proof? The already hazy memory from this morning drifted back in to her head.

Draco’s sleep tousled hair and glasses, the way he somehow still didn't seem phased by Hermione being sat on the floor, the way he held his fingers felt against her wrist as he held it steady. Hermione felt a shiver again, she had almost convinced herself it was from the cold this morning, but she couldn’t make that excuse now. It was definitely him, or at least the proximity.

The memory lingered for a second longer than it should have before Hermione scolded herself. She had never been one for obsessing over things like that and she wasn’t going to start now. But she did feel like she had to thank him, in some way or another, he had been unbelievably patient with her since she had moved in, and his actions that morning alone warranted some kind of olive branch from her end.

Since her pizza had been so delicious she considered getting him one, but the possibilities of getting him something he didn't like were too high. Looking over at the counter Hermione noticed that they had a number of different desserts on offer to take away. It wasn’t long before a slightly smug Hermione was in the elevator back to the flat holding a sweet little tiramisu in its own little ramekin. As the elevator doors slid open it was immediately obvious that Draco had gone back to his room, his cup now washed up on the side and a soft glow from under his door frame, perfect.

Hermione put the tiramisu down on the island in the kitchen before jotting a quick note on some paper and leaving it by the desert. Instinctively she went to get in to bed before realising that the gesture would be slightly lost if she let it go off overnight, and leaving it in the fridge didn't quite have the same effect.

Hermione loitered by her bedroom door for a second, gritting her teeth, she went over and knocked on Draco’s door before heading back in to her room and shutting the door. Letting out a breath that had been stuck for a second Hermione couldn’t shake the feeling that she was behaving like a child.

At least she had done something, if there was one thing worse than feeling awkward around Malfoy it was feeling indebted to him, something she was already far too familiar with. Checking her watch she realised that it was already close to 10 and she had work tomorrow. Tidying the paper sprawled over her bed Hermione curled up, thankful for a day that almost, almost, felt normal.

The few small knocks on his door took Draco by surprise, he wasn’t sure what the Gryffindor wanted at this hour but he couldn't help but be slightly curious, and even more so when he heard her door shut shortly after. Throwing on a t-shirt Draco rolled out of bed and opened his door. Hermione had definitely gone to bed now, but it looked like she had left something on the kitchen counter.

Making his way over to the island he saw a small tiramisu from the italian place next to a small note.

_Thank you for the recommendation, and this morning._

_Hope the jet lag wears off soon._

_Thought you’d appreciate this._

_Hermione._

Her handwriting was as delicate and small as she was, also as neat. Draco had eaten pretty well over the day, but the tiramisu looked incredible, it was one of his favourite desserts. He couldn't help but smile at the gesture, too tired to overthink the genuine smile that broke out on his face. Before he could stop himself he wrote a reply on the piece of paper before grabbing the desert and the spoon next to it and heading to his room. Still another week off of work, definitely more time to sleep.


	10. Risotto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a deadline this week and managed to submit it early! So thought i'd treat us all with a new chapter mid week! There will be another on Friday as per usual. Everyone's comments are making me so happy! I'm so happy you're all enjoying it!

As per usual Hermione was awake before her alarm went off, London in the winter morning looked enchanting. Hermione practically jumped out of her bed, throwing on a fitted jumper dress and a scarf with some warm boots. Checking herself in the mirror Hermione smiled, no matter how many years go by Hermione couldn’t wait to get to work. Heading out of her room she went straight to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before leaving as early as she could, although she had already made the trip to work once before she still wasn’t used to the commute yet, better be safe than sorry. It took her a few moments before Hermione noticed the reply on the note she had left for Draco. In writing almost as neat as her own there was a short and sweet reply. 

_ Glad you enjoyed the restaurant, and thanks for the desert. It's one of my favourites.  _

Hermione checked her watch, there wasn’t any need to write anymore, but his reply intrigued her a little. Not only was she not expecting one in the first place, but there was something oddly friendly about the fact she now knew something new about him. Call it curiosity or the slightly more reckless lioness side to her but Hermione picked up the pen next to the paper and scrawled down another reply under Draco’s, before heading straight to the elevator with her things. 

By the time she got to the office Hermione had gone back and forth god knows how many times about writing more on that little bit of paper, it was only walking into her own department that she realised that she hadn't told anybody about her living situation yet.

Normally this was the kind of thing she would instantly owl Ginny or Ron about, but the circumstances were different this time. This was someone who all of her close friends had abnormally strong feelings about, and even those friends who she would tell, it still wouldn't be something she felt she could just put in an owl. No matter how much she trusted her little owl written word still didn’t feel right. 

Hermione was deep in this spiral of thought when she found Flo sitting in her office. Florence hadn’t noticed her yet, she seemed to be deep in some letters. 

Hermione felt a sense of relief wash over her, Flo, someone she could talk to, since they started working together her and Flo had bonded quickly and they were definitely more friends than they were colleagues by this point. Unpacking her things at the desk Hermione cleared her throat and smiled at Florence when her eyes snapped up from the letter she was reading. 

“Hermione! How was your weekend! How is the flat?” Florence got up to give Hermione a hug, which she gladly accepted. 

“It wasn’t too bad! How was yours?” Florence picked up one of the coffee’s from the desk next to her and passed it to Hermione. 

“It was good! My parents came to visit, and the field training is going well, I still need to work on my attack power but I'm the best at defensive spells now.” Hermione was glad to see that the new recruit was enjoying her time at the ministry, she remembered how difficult the auror field training was for the Hogwarts year, they had already picked up bad habits from the amount of fighting they’d already done. 

“Found out anything else about your flatmate?” Flo’s question set Hermione’s teeth on edge. 

“Well funnily enough, he came home a week early from his vacation.” 

“Ooh he? Maybe an eligible bachelor?” Hermione scoffed at the thought before second guessing her decision to tell Flo, but she knew if she kept it to herself then it could snowball, and someone was bound to find out at some point. 

“I wouldn’t quite say that.” Hermione sat down, checking that Florence had as well before continuing. 

“I don't even know how to put this into words” - Hermione chuckled - “Turns out I moved in with the Malfoy heir himself…” Hermione watched as Florence’s face slowly processed her words, trying not to laugh as she realised what she must've looked like to Draco when she processed the same information. 

“Wait, wait, wait, so Draco, that’s who you mean right? You're, you're living with Draco Malfoy.” Grateful for Flo’s hushed tone Hermione nodded. 

“Yep…” Florence’s confused silence was almost visible around her. 

“And you had a good weekend?” Hermione laughed, loud and freely for the first time since the house had gone up in flames. Sitting back in her chair she nodded again. 

“You have to tell me. Everything.” The weight off Hermione’s chest was bigger than she had realised, she was usually the type of person to owl friends about everything, from promotions to finding a new dress that she felt confident in. So keeping something as big as this to herself felt like a seat belt just getting tighter over her chest. 

“I will, but first, I got ahead on a lot of paperwork yesterday so we have a lot of work to do, how about heading out the office for lunch?”

“Perfect.” Florence gave Hermione a toothy grin before moving her chair forward. 

The morning flew by with Florence heading to all the departments Hermione had mailed the day before to make sure all the necessary cases had been reopened, and if they could conduct interviews and visit the crime scenes over the next couple of weeks. It was past two when the two women popped out to a local muggle restaurant round the corner from one of the ministries exits and Hermione could finally tell someone about her bizarre yet oddly nice weekend. 

Florence couldn’t have been more accepting, not judging Malfoy instantly and listening intently to everything that had happened over the weekend. 

“So did he say what happened on his holiday? How come he wanted someone to fill the room so quickly?” 

“Well I haven't really pried at all, I think i’ve pushed his buttons plenty already without asking about his private life.” 

“Hmm, fair point.” Florence looked in to her cup of coffee deep in thought.

“I have to say, you don’t seem surprised by his behaviour at all?” Hermione’s question interrupted Florence’s train of thought. 

“I guess, up until a few years ago he was featured a fair amount in some of the tabloid magazines that circulated round my year at Hogwarts, he really turned his life around since his father turned himself in.” 

“Oh?” Hermione thanked the waiter as he placed their food down on the table, taking a bite before she could help herself. 

“Yeah, I mean I think he started his own business to get away from his dad's legacy, donated the manor to a charity.” Florence took a bite out of her lunch before continuing with a hand in front of her mouth - “There were even rumours going round that he’d donated any money associated with the dark side.” Although it was all new information Hermione wasn’t all that surprised, more so impressed. 

“It was obvious he had changed his way of thinking, but it's good to know he actually put his money where his mouth is.” Hermione couldn’t help but wonder what else had been written about him over the years, since her own brush with Skeeter she had avoided the tabloids like the plague. 

“What else have these tabloid papers been saying about him?” Hermione glanced up and Flo from her food, almost embarrassed to be asking about the gossip she hated so much. Florence grinned. 

“Well, what do you want to know?” Flo’s smile grew wider as she watched Hermione’s cheeks go red. The second Florence caught Hermione’s eye she winked as dramatically as she could, watching Hermione’s hair frizz. 

“Not like that!” Hermione laughed, gently tapping Flo’s hand as she broke out laughing from across the table. “Flo! He’s my flatmate! I-” 

“No, no, I’m just teasing. I would have gone through ministry records by this point if I was you.” Hermione let out a deep breath before taking another bite. “So?”

“Well other than the papers eating up his charitable works he was only really in the paper for his string of women to be honest. Then about two years ago he was spotted around London with Pansy Parkinson, was she in your year too?” 

“Unfortunately yes, wait so what happened after that?” 

“Well that was it really, it seemed like they were going steady which obviously bored the hell out of the press so they have been out of the papers since. I mean apart from the occasional ‘Hottest wizards this century’ articles anyways.” Hermione looked up to catch Flo’s cheeky grin from across the table again. 

“Flo! If you keep at this then i'm not gonna have anyone else to talk to about this stuff!” 

“What do you mean? I thought you saw Ginny recently? And what about you mum? Don’t you talk to her fairly often?” 

“Well considering the fact my mum has been trying to set me up with people the past year I’m definitely not telling her that i'm living with one of the ‘Hottest wizards of the century’” Flo rolled her eyes at the dig, holding back a grin as she chewed her food. 

“But what about the Potter’s? Aren’t you all still close?” 

“Exactly! What am I supposed to say? Hey guys, remember that guy who helped murder your childhood mentor, well he is my flatmate and landlord! But he isn’t that murderous anymore, so no need to worry!...” Hermione looked back at Flo to find her looking far more concerned than she had realised. “I'm sorry, I just don’t think it’s the right time now, they have a lot on their plate right now… So yeah, you’re the only person who knows…” Flo quickly waved over the waiters to take their plates before giving Hermione a gentle smile. 

“You don’t know how much it means to me that you could tell me about this.” Flo reached across the table and gave Hermione’s arm a squeeze. “I’m always here to talk… but when you inevitably fall for him I have to be the maid of honour.” 

“FLO!” Florence burst out laughing, grinning at Hermione before they began the classic argument over who pays for the meal.

\--- 

By the time Draco woke up the taste of tiramisu had long gone from his mouth, leaving only a deep yearning for coffee taking its place. The sun was already high in the sky, way past midday. Not again. 

Glancing at his watch Draco pulled the duvet over his head and let a low groan carry his breath out his lungs before making a poor attempt to sit up. Summoning his wand silently he turned the kettle on before rolling out of bed and promptly in to the shower. 

Normally the hot water was the small meditative part of his day, but a small gremlin in his head reminded him of the long showers he and Pansy used to have, they both had busy jobs and early mornings so their showers together were their moment of bliss. Draco felt his blood rush away from his head for a second before he shook away the thought. God he needed to find a rebound, and a discrete one at that, he wanted nothing less than to be in Skeeter’s spotlight again. 

As the water glided over him he made a list of shit to get done before work started back up again. Visit his mother, get some groceries in, catch up with Zambini, and most importantly, pull yourself the fuck together. 

Muttering the spell to turn the shower off and dry himself, Draco threw a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms on before cracking open the door to check if there was any lionesses to be seen before remembering how late it was in the day. What had he sunk to, checking if the hallway was clear like he was back in Hogwarts. 

Gritting his teeth he swung his door open and enchanted his coffee cup out of the cupboard as he brewed his coffee. Leaning against the counter Draco spotted the note he left for Granger. For a second he wanted to scold himself for writing anything underneath her message, but he noticed some cursive under his own. Making his way over to the other side of the island to read the gentle little reply under his own. 

_ It’s one of mine too. Reminds me of trips to Italy. Have you been?  _

It wasn’t a paragraph, but it was sweet. Yet another smirk caused by Granger. Draco went to summon his quill before second guessing himself, grown adults leaving notes for each other, he couldn’t help but feel slightly ridiculous. Picking up his coffee and the note he headed back to his room to send out a few owls and restart his life again. 

* * *

Hermione was practically singing all afternoon. The rest of the work day flew by, with all the paperwork filled out; she had visits to Padma and Neville’s properties as well as an interview with Dean over the next few weeks. Flo had made her feel lighter than she had in a month, someone to talk to about everything, thank god. It was only when she got back to the flat building at 6 that she felt the tiredness of a full day's work rest on her shoulders slightly. Waving a quick hello to the receptionist Hermione tapped her wand on the lift before stepping in and letting out a huge yawn. 

When the lift doors opened the smell of parmesan and stock floated into the empty space around her. The sound of liquid bubbling was like music to her ears and Hermione’s stomach almost called for the food she was smelling. Stepping tentatively out into the flat she caught Draco in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his wand behind his ear and a copy of Quidditch Quarterly hovering a centimetre or so off the counter in front of him. 

Despite the little olive branches that they had been extending over the weekend Hermione was still nervous as hell. For a quick second, Hermione’s eyes glanced to the counter top where she had left her note this morning, but it wasn't there. Why would it be. Letting out a small breath through her nose she cleared her throat. 

“Hi!” Draco’s eyes flicked up from his book before settling back on to the pages. 

“Afternoon Granger.” The sentence felt stagnant in Draco’s mouth, he felt like he should have said more, asked her how her day was, something. But they weren't quite there, not yet. He glanced back at her, Hermione’s cheeks were red from the winter air, her nose was too. She obviously thought she had her back to him, because as she untied her shoes, she took a deep breath of the scent of the risotto on the stove. Draco smirked. 

“Hungry?”

“What?” Hermione glanced over her shoulder to meet mischievous silver eyes. 

“Nothing.” Draco scolded himself for teasing her before setting the book down and going to stir the risotto. Moron, why goad her. 

“I mean I am hungry, if that’s what you asked?” Draco turned around to see Hermione’s eyes glinting slightly, a mischievous smirk tugging the corner of her mouth as she slipped her shoes off and put them on the rack. Hermione bit her tongue the second the remark came out her mouth, what is she doing! Throwing Draco a slightly more appropriate smile she took her robe off before going to grab her work bag. 

“Do you like risotto?” Hermione turned back around. 

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like risotto.” 

“Touché. Annoyingly I forgot to go to the butcher, so it’s not up to form today.” 

“I mean I don’t really eat meat anymore anyways.”

“Oh?”

“Since moving out I did a bit of research about where my food came from, it doesn’t seem as appetising when you know what goes on.”

“Fair enough.” Hermione took another breath in before opening her bedroom door. 

“It does smell amazing though, enjoy.” Hermione ducked into her room, feeling the glowing red of her cheeks getting brighter every second. 

Draco couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, she couldn’t be more awkward if she tried. Tasting a spoonful of his handiwork he smiled. At least those trips to see Pansy’s Italian family weren't for nothing. But he still couldn’t get his measurements right, even after serving himself a kings portion there was plenty in the pan to feed a small army… Or maybe just one hungry Granger. 

Draco glanced at her door, turning the fan off to hear the shower running in her room. It wasn’t technically cooking her dinner, more like giving her his table scraps, its not like day old risotto was nice anyways, it’d just be a waste to throw it out. Grabbing another bowl before he over thought it, Draco piled the bowl high and cast a warming spell on it before returning to his room. Letting out a sigh Draco went to slump into his bed before realising he had left his magazine in the kitchen. 

Putting his bowl down on his bedside table Draco caught sight of the little note Hermione had left him this morning. He threw the idea around in his head a little, He wasn’t going to see her for the rest of the evening anyways, and she might just assume the bowl of food on the island was just his extras. Grabbing a new piece of paper he scribbled down a little more than he did last time, before venturing back into the kitchen to leave it by the bowl and grab his magazine. Closing his door and muttering a muffalato to block out any clumsy noises caused by Granger. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s. I have actually written a lot of this fan-fic! I am just pacing myself so I don't feel rushed, so no worries about the fic dropping off the face of the earth, there's A Lot more to come. And I can't wait to share it with you all!


	11. Two Whiskey's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!!

The hot water felt like heaven. In her house with Luna and Cho the shower was always slightly hit or miss. The only way to ensure a hot wash was a bath which always slipped Hermione’s mind when she was tired. But here, the shower was wonderful, she didn't even miss a bath. 

Letting the steam warm her toes and slowly change her cold tipped red nose turn into a warm glow, Hermione let out a final contented sigh before turning the water off and drying herself off. She couldn’t hear Draco in the kitchen anymore, but she could hear her stomach growling. 

She hadn’t expected the Malfoy heir to be able to cook, not that it was something she thought about, but she had assumed that being a, well, Malfoy heir, his house chores would’ve been taken care of by an army of probably underpaid house elves. But then again he had definitely grown past the coward his father was, so she couldn’t imagine a situation like Dobby playing out again either. 

Changing into her cosiest jumper and pyjama bottoms Hermione listened out for Draco a second time, then realised how childish that was before opening her door to see the kitchen slightly messy form Malfoy’s cooking. But the flat did smell wonderful. Following her nose Hermione realised that there was a mountain of a bowl of food left on the counter. She was going to ignore it if she hadn’t also spotted a scrap of paper tucked underneath the bowl with Draco’s delicate handwriting underneath it. Making her way over Hermione pulled the note out from under the bowl. 

_ I’ve been a few times. We have a family home there.  _

_ I made too much food, it will just go to waste. Help yourself.  _

Hermione was stumped by the message, and the gesture. She was wondering what he was going to do with all the food he was cooking but she did not expect him to give it to her. Just to check she cupped the bowl in her hands to find it still warm, he must have cast a warming spell. Hermione felt the corners of her lips lift against her better judgement. 

Another surprisingly kind gesture. But there was no way in hell she was going to be able to eat this much food. Transferring it into another bowl and putting it in the fridge, Hermione decided she would return the gesture. 

After bustling around the kitchen for the rest of the evening Hermione put her handiwork in a bowl in the fridge before writing a reply on the scrap paper and enchanting it a little. Smiling privately to herself Hermione picked up what was left of her bowl of risotto and returned gratefully to her room, looking forward to her meal with a good book. 

The combination of rice and cheese sent Hermione straight to sleep. Both the food and the weight of Hermione’s shoulders meant she slept straight through till her alarm the next morning. The dark February morning looked just as enchanting as it had the day before, this time however light droplets of rain reflected the street lamps below. Hermione got herself ready to go slower than she had meant to. Grabbing an arancini that she had made with Draco’s leftover risotto, Hermione left for the ministry, enjoying a decadent breakfast. 

Draco heard Hermione leave this time. For such a petite witch her footsteps were surprisingly heavy, that didn’t stop him from falling asleep with ease yesterday though. His day had been spent owling people that he was back in the country, avoiding the vixen's name like the plague in every owl and hoping to the gods that no one had the audacity to ask him about it. Thankfully Blaise had owled him back yesterday and they’d agreed to have a catch up over a few whiskeys.

The sky was still so dark, not that it bothered him, he found waking up to glaring sunlight slightly unnerving sometimes. Rolling out of bed he put his glasses on before heading into the kitchen. Without realising it Draco’s first instinct was to check the counter for a note, only catching himself when he realised the smirk that threatened to show when he saw there was a reply. 

How bloody childish, grinning like a first year over a note left out for him. Despite scolding himself Draco was intrigued by Granger’s behaviour, he knew she was as rational as him, so why reply? Then again, he could ask himself the same question, making his way over to the note he saw movement on the paper. 

_ Throwing out risotto? I’m sure your Italian neighbours would be very disappointed.  _

_ Haven’t you heard of arancini? It’s perfect for leftover risotto.  _

_ Enjoy.  _

Next to her perfect cursive was a moving arrow that pointed towards the fridge. Draco put the note down before going to check what she had left him. 

Inside the fridge were small breadcrumb coated balls which looked like they had been fried. Picking one up and popping it in his mouth Draco couldn't help but be impressed. He had had arancini before but not in a long while, truth be told he hadn't been back to his own family home in Italy since him and Pansy had gotten together, and it was his family's house maid there that had cooked these for him. 

Draco’s already curious smirk tugged harder at the corner of his mouth. Granger had a few tricks up her sleeve. 

Grabbing the bowl he headed back to his room to get ready for the day and enjoy his decadent breakfast. 

After a day of replying to owls and tiring out his, Draco was relieved to see the clock had finally ticked past 5. Grabbing his coat and wand he went to leave the flat before realising he’d left Hermione’s note unanswered on the counter top. Draco turned to the door, tempted to sever this bizarre routine they were getting into. But he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed it. 

Letting a growling sigh loose from his throat he accio’d a pen before replying to Hermione’s message, then finally leaving the flat. 

The air was chilly, but it almost felt like the bite was gone. Once he was in the lobby Draco gave a nod to the receptionist before apparating from the lobby straight to a more secluded spot in Hyde Park. From there it was a relatively short walk to Blaise and Draco’s favourite muggle pub. 

If his old wizard pals had any idea both him and Blaise made this their local they’d be hexed into the next century, but that's exactly why they found it so relaxing. No wizard, slytherin, reporter of otherwise would ever expect them to be here. Equally, similarly to the pizza place down the road, coming here for a drink with Blaise felt like a rebellious escape from Pansy when she was in an unnecessarily foul mood.

Pushing the door open the hum of conversation washed over him, the bell announcing his arrival. As per usual Blaise was sat in their normal corner with two short glasses of whiskey. Catching Draco’s eye Blaise smirked before raising his glass. 

Draco wasn’t a sentimental guy but god was he happy to see the dickhead. Making his way over Draco slumped in his seat before knocking back his drink then gesturing at the barman for another. Catching Blaise’s eye he saw his friend stifle a laugh poorly. 

“Christ Malfoy! It's good to see you too I guess.” Blaise took a sip of his own drink before leaning back in his chair. 

“Go on then, I bet you’re dying to tell someone what happened.” Draco caught the mischievous grin spread further from Blaise’s face, letting the waiter bring his second drink over before finally replying. 

“Honestly, it’s been a fucking nightmare. I don’t even know where to start.” Draco took a more reserved swig of his drink before catching Blaise’s genuinely concerned face. 

“I didn’t realise it was that bad? We can talk about the bitch another time if you want?” Blaise offered a stoic smirk and Draco considered his offer. But he realised that he hadn’t spoken to anyone about the whole ordeal yet and he could practically feel the tension in his shoulders because of it. Letting a slow breath out through his nose he mirrored Blaise’s smirk and shook his head. 

“No, it’ll be good to load the stress on to someone else finally.” 

“So you haven’t told anyone else? When did you get back?”

“Friday.” For a split second the image of Granger in his t-shirt stole his headspace before he pushed the image out of his mind and took an inconspicuous swig of his drink. 

“What happened, when you were out in Bali? Was it?” Draco nodded. “I thought you and Pansy had been going strong for a good couple of years.” 

“Yeah, that trip was supposed to be for our two year anniversary.”

“So what happened?” Draco glanced up at Blaise briefly, letting another slow breath out through his nose before replying. 

“She was cheating on me…”

“Shit. Do you know who with? Or how long for?” 

“No idea, but it’d been for at least a couple of months. I found a letter she was writing to the lucky guy hidden in our hotel room.”

“Classy.”

“I know.” Draco took another swig of his drink, allowing the burning sensation to warm his throat before he finished the glass. Seeing Blaise had finished his as well he gestured at the waiter again before turning back to his friend. 

“I assume she’s moved out of the flat?” Draco couldn't stifle the genuine laugh that broke out his chest, the first in a while. 

“Oh she’s definitely long gone.” 

“Honestly, I'm glad she’s finally out the picture.” Blaise looked more at ease than he had before finding out about Pansy, which puzzled the hell out of Draco. 

“How so?” 

“Mate she’s been toxic for a while now. Checking your owls, still stuck in her old ways, I honestly don’t think she had outgrown her Hogwarts days much at all.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Fuck yeah, I think she hid it from you because she knew you’d actually gained a pair of balls since the war, but she made all the snide comments she used to, just quieter and with more passive aggression.” Draco couldn’t say he hadn’t noticed, part of him just felt so comfortable with her he let it slide a fair amount. 

“I hate it when you’re right.” 

“If that were true we wouldn’t be friends, I’m always right.” Draco grinned at Blaise before realising he also hadn’t told anyone about his current living situation. Draco thought about telling Blaise about his new flat mate, feeling the pressure of information only he had pressing against his skull, however his thoughts were disrupted by Blaise. 

“Plenty more witches out there, I can set you up with a few if you want?” 

“A few? The fuck are you on about Zambini?” 

“What? How long have you gone now? At least a week? You must be craving someone to fuck around with.”

“What part of ‘two year relationship’ do you not understand?” 

“The relationship part, you. Broke. Up. The bitch was cheating on you, now time for some rebound sex!” Draco gritted his teeth and glared at Blaise across the table. 

“See! You’re craving it! Come on let me set you up!” 

“No!.. Not yet anyways... “ Draco had to admit the tension in his shoulders wasn’t exclusively from keeping secrets from people, or the stress he’d been through. The fact Granger had even crossed his mind was all the proof he needed that the tension needed to be relieved sooner rather than later. 

“I’ll owl you sometime next week, how about that?” Blaise’s Italian grin blinded Draco for a second before he nodded and held up his drink to cheers on it. 

“To moving on.” Draco tapped his glass on Blaise’s before they both knocked back their drinks and started discussing far more comfortable topics, over far too many whiskeys. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! There's a really good one on its way next week ;) keep on commenting! Hearing from you all has become the highlight of my week!


	12. A Late Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy!

Hermione’s work day had reminded her why she hated the bureaucracy of the ministry sometimes. Despite filing mountains of paperwork early, and most of those papers being signed off, they then had to be approved by a stupid amount of higher-ups. 

Meaning today was spent finding out many of the requests which had previously been approved were now on hold. And on top of that Flo had to leave early because of a crisis at home. The train journey home was spent with Hermione trying to clear her mind of anything to do with the case. 

The warm air inside the reception of the building was the first thing that day that made Hermione smile, the owls that sat behind the reception desk were all starting to settle down to sleep in the warm and the whole image made Hermione excited to curl up in her bed and feel just as cosy as they looked. 

As the lift doors opened she realised that she was no longer apprehensive to see Malfoy in the flat. If anything part of her was wondering if he enjoyed the arancini she had cooked the day before. So when the lift doors opened to an empty flat the little sinking feeling returned to her chest. How bizarre. 

Only 4 days ago the sinking feeling was there because of Malfoy, and here she was, wishing he was here. How stupid. He was her flat mate after all, as well as someone she would've hexed into oblivion had he approached her on the street a week ago. 

Gritting her teeth and settling in to her foul mood, Hermione took off her robe and shoes, nearly missing the note that had been left next to an empty, and cleaned bowl on the counter top. 

_ I’m sure there are plenty of other things they could be disappointed about.  _

_ But the arancini was divine. I’d appreciate the recipe. Any other tricks up your sleeves? _

Hermione didn’t quite know how to reply to that message. She wondered for a second if he had written intentionally to throw her off. But these little notes were slowly becoming something she looked forward to coming home to. 

Hermione checked the clock, 6:30, she didn't know where he was but his absence did mean she felt slightly more comfortable sitting in the living room for once. Pocketing the note Hermione had a long shower, washing off the stress of the day, before making herself a quick dinner and settling in to the sofa, pulling the coffee table closer to the spot closest to the window so she could see the lit up skyline of London buzzing around below her and enjoy her hot chocolate.

Before Hermione knew it the clock had ticked past half 10 and her eyes were starting to feel heavy, but the chapter of her book was just getting interesting, and actually relevant to the residual spell research she needed to look at for the case. 

Counting up the hours of sleep she still had if she stayed up later Hermione bargained an extra hour and a half of reading before she went straight to bed. Not that her bargain lasted, before the clock struck 12 Hermione was asleep on the sofa. 

That was how Draco found her. By the time Draco stumbled in to the flat it was past 12 and the warmth brought rare colour to his cheeks. It took Draco a second to work out why the lamps were on in the living room, his alcohol blurred eyes taking longer than it should have to spot a sleeping Hermione curled up on the sofa. 

He automatically looked to the island to see if she had left a note there then tipsily scolded himself for being so stupid. Slipping his shoes off he forgot about Hermione sleeping on the sofa, wincing when his shoe hit the wall loudly. 

He hoped that it hadn’t roused Hermione, looking over to see her hazel eyes peeking at him sleepily from hooded eyelids. Draco felt like a deer caught in headlights, she looked so vulnerable there curled up on the sofa, her legs tucked underneath her body and her head awkwardly up against the arm of the chair. 

She blinked at him a couple times before closing her eyes again. Draco let out a sigh of relief before heading to his room to crash. But he couldn’t help but glance back at Granger. 

Although the flat was warm now the morning chill will be biting by the time she wakes up. If Draco had been sober then maybe he would’ve dealt with the situation differently, but he had already made up his mind. 

He briefly considered getting a blanket from Granger's room, but that would definitely cross a boundary. Ducking in to his room Draco took his jacket off and undid a few buttons of his shirt to let some of the building heat from the alcohol settle a bit, before grabbing one of the blankets from his room and awkwardly heading over to Hermione’s sleeping figure. 

Gritting his teeth in an effort to ground his spinning head, Draco couldn’t help but feel his eyes lap up the Gryffindor on his sofa. Her pyjamas were a stark difference to the clothes she headed off to work in. Not that she looked bad in those, but here she was in an oversized jumper and baggy tracksuit bottoms, her feet pointed and bare. 

Draco’s mind wandered far enough that he forgot about the coffee table. The wooden corner met his calf hard; Draco stumbled, automatically letting out a string of curses before nearly colliding with Hermione. Catching himself on the back and arm of the sofa, balanced over her. 

He looked to Hermione, he saw her take a deep breath in before opening her eyes heavily again. Draco’s breath caught in his throat. Her barely open eyes travelled up his torso before settling on his face, catching his eyes briefly before releasing the breath she had been holding and letting her eyes droop closed again. 

Her face was angled towards his now, Draco noticed the smattering of light freckles across her nose and the patch on her lip she had obviously been chewing over the day. 

The image of her stood surprised in nothing but his t-shirt flashed through his head again. The picture sobered Draco slightly. Blaise was right, he was definitely feeling frustrated in more ways than one. 

Pushing himself up off the sofa and steadying his balance, Draco spread the blanket over Hermione. The reckless, alcohol soaked part of his brain told him to tuck it under her slightly, but he resisted the urge, pushing it down and locking the stupid thought in the same box as that mental image of Hermione before he went to sleep the alcohol off. 

Hermione’s eyes snapped open. She could smell the whiskey on his breath, but also his cologne on the blanket he had just draped over her. She didn’t know whether to laugh or be shocked by the whole thing. 

He had woken her up straight away when he’d clumsily entered the flat, but Hermione thought it would be more awkward if he knew she’d seen him while he was drunk. She didn't expect him to be thoughtful enough to put a blanket over her, let alone the rest of whatever that was. 

Hermione shut her eyes briefly only to be greeted by Draco’s unbuttoned shirt and his hazy eyes hovering over her own. His collarbone had been peeking out from his shirt and the low light had enhanced his jawline and cheekbones. 

Instinctively Hermione sat up, shaking the thoughts from her head, of course he was an attractive guy, Flo had told her about everything he got up to after Hogwarts, but Hermione wasn’t foolish enough to fall into such a reckless and dumb thought process. 

Standing up from the sofa she began to silently make her way back to her room, considering bringing his blanket with her before she realised how childish that was. 

* * *

By the time the morning rolled around Hermione had majorly overslept. The late night yesterday and the disturbance she had on the sofa still plagued her mind. Skipping out on the shower Hermione raced out the flat in a flurry of robes and paper, only realising once she got to the ministry that she had forgotten to leave a reply on Draco’s note. Not that he will care, right? Slowly edging in to her office she caught Flo organising the mess Hermione had made the day before in her frustration. 

“Oh! God, sorry Flo, I should’ve cleared this stuff up!” Hermione took off her robe and went over to help. 

“Oh! No worries at all! This is why i’m here after all.” Flo looked at Hermione and gave her a glowing, genuine smile before gathering up the things on the desk she preemptively knew were hers and sitting herself down on her side of the office. 

“Honestly I fell apart yesterday with you gone.” Hermione let out a shaky laugh. 

“Really? I thought all the paperwork went through fine?”

“Well technically, but as we’re merging old cases with new I got a load of ‘waiting in queue for approval’ letters yesterday. Luckily my interview with Dean today is a go ahead, otherwise it’s just a waiting, filing and research game now.” Hermione let out an exasperated breath before catching Flo giving her a concerning look. 

“Is everything okay ‘Mione? You look like you haven’t slept.” Draco’s unbuttoned shirt and alcohol glazed eyes crept into her brain again and Hermione felt a blush rise in to her cheeks. 

“It was a weird night. I’m fine though, Flo, really.” 

“Does it have anything to do with the super attractive Slytherin you are currently living with?” Hermione looked up at Flo, her anxiety about the whole situation wanted to scowl at her assistant, but Flo’s mischievous grin instantly won her over and she chuckled slightly; reminding herself that Flo was going to be the only person she could talk to about the whole situation for a while yet. 

“I hate to say it but you’re not wrong.” Flo practically vibrated with excitement, handing Hermione her coffee and waiting for her to settle into her seat. 

“So? What happened?” Hermione thought about burning the memory 6 feet under, but until her interview with Dean that afternoon she didn’t have a huge amount of work to distract herself with. 

Hermione enjoyed her coffee for a second before indulging Flo with all the details that had happened the night before, from the friendlier note to Draco covering her up with a blanket. She conveniently left out his unbuttoned shirt and their brief eye-contact and the fact it had been plaguing her mind ever since. 

Despite omitting those particular parts of her evening Flo still lapped up the story, feigning disinterest at the beginning before caving and asking Hermione for every possible detail. 

Yet again the weight on her chest lifted and Hermione enjoyed the banter in between the research papers that steadily came through her office door. By the time lunch rolled around Hermione was motivated and excited for her interview with Dean, and ever grateful for Flo. 

* * *

Draco woke up with a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach and a headache to match. He would be lying if he said this was a surprise, his ‘drinks’ with Blaise often left him far worse for wear, and the drinks were more needed than ever this time.  But he never enjoyed the repercussions. 

Draco almost rolled over to fall back asleep before his memories of his stupidity with Hermione seeped into his psyche. Letting a frustrated growl roll out of his throat Draco checked the time on his watch before slowly dragging himself out of bed and to his coffee machine. 

The caffeine cleared his headache a little but he couldn't shake the memories of last night from his head. Hermione’s little calm breaths, the way the lamp light illuminated her face gently; the way she looked up from beneath him.  Draco felt his blood rush down south before he forced the thoughts from his mind and remembered Blaise’s offer. 

Dumping his empty cup in the sink Draco turned around and checked the counter top for any note left by Hermione. Draco’s hungover brain being surprisingly pissed off to find the flat empty of any communication from her. The only thing she had left was the blanket he’d put over her that night. 

Draco thought she was asleep, so it can’t have been that. Maybe it was the reply he had written on the note, he had been slightly more intrusive, well fuck him for being in a good mood. Draco almost angrily threw together some food before writing a brief owl to Blaise. 

_ Tomorrow too soon to set something up?  _

Less than an hour later his owl returned with a similarly short note back. 

_ Valentine’s day? Easy. Nicolino’s at 8:30, don’t be late.  _

For some reason the prospect of a quick fuck didn’t excite Draco like it used to, then again, he had to start somewhere. Draco saw a small pile of letters to go through, probably about heading back to work and other boring shit like that. But with the sun setting he knew he should do something productive before he settled back into an evening of wallowing.

By the time he had finished replying to brainless letters it was already close to 6. The fact that Granger was getting back soon made him almost excited. He was curious if she had anything to say about not leaving a note, it was something so petty but the hangover still hung in his brain, and if he was gonna feel this shit he might as well cause some chaos. 

Knowing she’d probably be back late Draco jumped in the shower, doing his best to let the hot water soak his muscles before he turned the faucet off just in time to hear the lift start running through the wall. 

Getting out the shower Draco threw on a tight knit sweater, glasses and some pyjama trousers before swinging his door open. His childish behaviour almost reminded him of his Hogwarts days, but this time his motives were far more innocent. Supposedly. 

Draco’s door swinging open made Hermione jump out of her skin. Her interview that afternoon with Dean had been somewhat helpful but also made her nervous, the feeling of eyes on the back of your head is one she knew well, so talking to old schoolmates who had the same paranoia before they'd been targeted was disconcerting. 

Hermione looked up from her feet in a whirl, seeing Draco leaning against his door frame looking like trouble. His hair was still wet from a shower he’d obviously just jumped out of, and considering the water droplets dripping from his hair and the damp patches on his jumper he’d gotten out in quite the hurry. 

Hermione was puzzled in the least, catching his eyes and taken off guard by the mischief in them. 

“Afternoon Malfoy.” 

“How come you didn’t leave a message.” 

Hermione paused taking off her robes for a second, musing the question as she propped her door open and put her things inside. Neither of them had really spoken about their notes since they started writing them, and she hadn’t expected him to even notice. 

“I think I fell asleep, last night, on the sofa.” Hermione met his eyes, if he was going to pry then so was she. “I must’ve forgotten. Seeing how late you got back last night I’m surprised you even noticed?” Hermione stifled the mischievous grin that wanted to break out, heading to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea to give her something to do, something to distract her from the tension that was building in the air. 

“I had asked you a question. I was expecting a reply. And how come you know I got in late? If you were just ‘asleep on the sofa’.” Draco was slightly unnerved by the idea she saw him in a state last night, let alone have been awake while he was acting so inappropriately. 

“You weren’t exactly quiet.” Draco was completely thrown off by the comment. That means she was awake the whole time. So she was awake when he fell. 

A sliver of sanity escaped Draco’s already strained brain as he took a few steps towards her. Hermione stood by the boiling kettle biting her tongue. She knew it was risky goading him, but he had definitely accosted her to try and get a rise out of her. And she wouldn’t be caught dead letting him get away with it. 

Hermione noticed he hadn’t replied, looking back over to his doorway to find Malfoy a couple of steps closer to her. The same breathlessness she’d felt when she’d cut her hand and last night returned. 

“So you were awake the whole time?..” 

“You could say that.” The kettle clicked off, dying down and leaving silence hanging in the air between them. 

Hermione looked back to Draco, he’d gotten slightly closer, she could see his glasses slightly fogged up from the heat radiating off him post shower. She could almost feel that heat radiating off him, he was close enough now that she had to look up at him, she hadn’t realised how much taller than her he was. 

“Is that why you didn’t reply?” Hermione scoffed. 

“Why would that stop me replying? It’s not like anything happened.” Hermione turned back to the kettle, but realised that the tea bags and sugar were by Draco. Something Draco realised at the same time. He wasn’t sure how to reply, she was right, nothing had happened. 

“Then why didn’t you reply?” Draco’s voice came out softer than he intended. Hermione heard his determination falter, eyeing up the tea. 

“As I said, I forgot.” Draco caught her looking at the tea again. He knew she was telling the truth, but he’d already come on so strong he wasn’t sure where to go from here. 

Draco could still see a spark in her eye, he stepped back by a fraction to let her grab the tea, but it wasn’t far enough to be comfortable. Hermione stepped forwards, reaching for the tea before realising how close she was to Draco. 

She could smell the shampoo he had used and the steam that had followed him out the shower. Hermione couldn’t resist tracing her eyes up his torso again, déjà vu creeping in as she saw the damp patches on his jumper and the shadow of his collarbones. 

Glancing up Hermione’s eyes caught his. The mischief had left them now, and she couldn’t quite tell what it had been replaced with, his glasses still slightly steamed up. 

Draco knew how reckless he was being, but there was something so intriguing about her. He remembered feeling it at the Yule ball, with all his childish beliefs long gone he could see why the wizarding world was so enamoured with her. 

He caught her hazel eyes slowly making their way up his torso until they met his. The breath left his chest for a second before he heard Hermione’s owl coo from her room. 

The gentle noise snapped Hermione out of it, she stepped back, pursing her lips slightly at Draco awkwardly before receding in to her room. 

Draco finally relaxed, glancing over at the freshly boiled kettle and empty mug. What was he thinking? He’d already organised to sort himself out tomorrow night, why taunt Granger. He thought about the way the blood rushes to her cheeks when he said something that caught her off guard. And the way she always chewed her lip without realising it. 

Draco scolded himself again, what was wrong with him, he craved female attention so much he was taking it out on Hermione. 

Clenching his jaw he finished making the tea that Hermione never finished before summoning over a pen and paper and writing a note and leaving it next to the mug. Knocking gently on Hermione’s door, then making his way back to his room and closing the door. Time to hibernate this hangover off before he embarrasses himself any more than he already had. 

Hermione heard the faint knocking at her door, waiting to hear the sound of Draco’s door click shut before she peeked round her own. There on the counter, just like the risotto, was a cup of tea, accompanied by a little note. 

_ Sorry. The hangover was getting to me. You forgot about this. _

Hermione was stumped, yet again. What in the hell was going on with him. Hermione picked up her tea, taking a small sip, it was perfect, just the way she liked it. Picking up the pen that was left by the note she scribbled a small reply then left it on the counter. 

_ I wasn’t innocent either. Don’t worry about it. _

Her mind settled a little more than it had been. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really chuffed when i finished writing this chapter, hopefully you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it :) Like, comment and everything, things pick up a little from here on out, so look out for the chapter next week!


	13. A Stumble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope it's okay!

Hermione’s day at work was dull. She had received an adorable little note from her mum wishing her a happy Valentines day, not that Hermione was even aware. She had ignored the whole charade after her and Ron had realised they just weren't right for each other, something that happened the day after a genuinely painful valentines day 3 years ago. 

As the work day drew on it was a relief when she could finally make her way back to the flat, later than usual, but a bubble of anxiety grew the closer she got. The mug of tea Draco had left had put her mind at ease, but not the rest of her. 

Whenever he was around, her mind seemed to focus on nothing else but him. Especially yesterday, he wasn’t even that close, but she could still remember the way his jaw clenched and his post shower musk clouded round her. Catching a couple walking with their arms around each other, Hermione reasoned with herself.

Since Ron, she had been practically starved for physical affection, sure she had been on a date with a guy or a girl throughout the years, but it usually ended in a one night stand that she immediately tried to forget about. And with each one her partner seemed to satisfy her less and less, to the point where she knew what she liked more than anyone else. 

Checking her watch it was already 7 somehow, Hermione greeted Becky at the reception before biting her lip the whole way up. Stepping out in to the flat and not even trying to resist looking to see if Draco had replied to her note. 

_ “Does that go for the other night too?”  _

Hermione’s teeth dug in to her lip more. Some reckless, intrigued part of her hoped he would bring it up again. That feeling of his body over hers and his shirt unbuttoned, but she repressed it, picking up the pen, thinking for a second about writing something boring and cold before letting a little bit of that recklessness glide in to the words, receding back in to her room before she could regret it. Fuck Valentines day. 

* * *

Draco looked at himself in the mirror, remembering to take his glasses off and take his vision potion before putting his shoes on. Thankfully Blaise had organised his date close enough so that he could just walk over rather than having to use the restaurant floo network on Valentines day.

If it hadn’t been for his mother sending him an owl to remind he would have happily forgotten about the whole thing, then again now he knew at least he could turn up to the date slightly more prepared for some lonely saps longing eyes and the inevitable slightly more strained walk of shame afterwards. 

He didn’t look half bad. He knew he was an attractive wizard, it had always been easy for him to wrap people around his little finger, and during his promiscuous years after Hogwarts he was almost addicted to female attention. But now he’d grown up a bit he was tired of people always handing him things on a plate. 

Obviously it wasn’t easy with his family history, but he hadn’t met a girl yet who didn’t flutter their eyelashes and nod to his every word when he decided he wanted them. And often even when he didn’t.

Apart from Granger. He remembered the way she had instantly risen to his taunts yesterday, catching him off guard despite that being his intention. The fact her breath caught in her throat when she realised how close they were and the blush that rose to her cheeks as she'd ran back to her room. 

Draco looked at himself sternly in the mirror, giving his outfit a once over. A pair of suit trousers with a crisp grey shirt, with his pea coat and scarf thrown over the top he’d look the part at least. Preparing himself for the fake smile he was going to have to plaster on his face all evening. 

Heading out into the kitchen he realised there was some writing below his on the note. 

_ “The jury’s still out on that one…”  _

The intention of the ellipses was obvious, and effective. The open end to their conversation caused the memory of her to rattle around in his brain again. Looking at his watch it was nearing 8:20 now, he was going to be late. 

“Shit.” 

Draco pocketed the note before realising he wasn’t sure where his wand was. Turning on his heel back towards his room, thrown off by the note, Draco hadn’t realised his flatmate had just emerged from her room behind him. 

Draco collided with Hermione hard, knocking her over and  causing them both to tumble to the ground. Hermione instinctively grabbed on to Draco as they fell, her hands clamping on to his arms and pulling her head up to stop herself getting a concussion. 

Draco managed to catch himself on his hands before the smooth floor caused him to lose his balance and fall on to his elbows, catching her head before the whiplash caused the back of her head to hit the marble. 

Hermione felt every vertebrae hit the floor before her neck snapped back, she waited for the thud of her skull against the floor but as her head shot back with the impact it landed firmly against Draco’s hand. 

Both of their movements stilled as Hermione winced, looking up at Draco to see him scanning Hermione for any injuries, his eyes finally falling on her face. His jaw was clenched hard, his grey irises wild and slightly unhinged. 

Their breaths were heavy and laboured, both of them as shocked as the other. Hermione could feel his breath ghosting across her nose, she caught his eyes focus. The position felt oddly familiar. 

The memory of the other night flooded to the forefront of Draco’s head. But this time was so much more immediate, and raw. He could see her surprise and confusion in her eyes, but there was also something else burning behind those. 

It took Hermione a second to realise she was still holding on to Draco’s arms, the embarrassment of the whole situation washing over her suddenly as she detached her hands from his shirt. The action visibly snapping Draco out of whatever thoughts had taken over his mind until that point. 

Her hands hung in the air for a second, Hermione realising that there wasn’t anywhere for them to be. She opened her mouth, intending to say anything to break the silence between them, but Draco beat her to it. 

“Are you hurt?” Hermione was surprised that that was the first thing he said. She shook her head feeling his knuckles against her skull. 

For a second his hand twitched, cupping her head before he withdrew his hand, pushing himself up on to his palms. Hermione took the opportunity to prop herself up on her elbows, not realising this just brought her as close as they had been beforehand. 

“What in the hell were you doing?” Hermione had meant for the comment to be scalding, but her awkwardness and the proximity just made the words come out slightly breathless. Draco’s mind circled back to why he had been in a hurry in the first place. 

“I couldn’t find my wand, and I have… plans that i'm late for.” Draco couldn’t quite meet her eyes, only looking up to her when he heard her stifle a laugh. 

Hermione struggled to keep her laughter contained, the great Malfoy heir, forgetting a beginners spell; silently summoning Draco’s wand over to her from wherever it had been in the flat. 

Draco saw the spark of magic behind her irises as he heard a clattering noise, then watched as his wand flew from his room into the palm of her hand. Hermione hadn’t registered the unspoken social rules that existed around peoples wands, only realising her mistake as she felt the alien magic of his wand settle in her palm as she reached to catch it. 

Looking to Draco to see if he was angry at her, an unreadable mask covered his face. Leaning upwards Draco pushed off of one of his hands, taking the wand from Hermione before rocking back on to his haunches. 

“Thank you.” Hermione scrambled up, watching Draco accio his coat and scarf over, his flurry of movement sudden and dizzying. Summoning the lift as he collected his things Draco avoided Hermione’s gaze, god he needed this date to go well, clear his head of any more unsavoury thoughts of the little lioness stood motionless in the kitchen. 

The lift rang gently, snapping Hermione out of her stupor, still not knowing what to do with herself she just watched as Draco brushed past her, turning to face her in the lift. As his eyes met her she lost her breath again, there was an intensity in them that was alien to her, she wondered if that's what Ron used to tease her about when he’d say she was scary sometimes. She caught Draco’s jaw tense as the elevator doors closed before she let out a breath she’d been holding in. 

His scent clung to her, stronger and more intoxicating than last time, the bite of whiskey gone. His face was so close to hers, she wondered what he’d have done if she’d caught his shoulders or neck on the way down instead, if she’d just imagined his eyes glance over her lips before they’d met her eyes. Soberingly Hermione felt a bubble grow between her hips, fuck no. Dragging her nails through her hair she took a few meditative breaths. 

“We are not. Going there.” Shaking her hair out behind her, Hermione shut herself in her room, musing over what Draco had said. Catching sight of her mums letter on her bed she realised what the date was again, of course he had fucking plans for tonight, it was Valentines day. A biting feeling rose in Hermione’s stomach before she scolded herself, she had absolutely no reason to be jealous, it was absurd. 

Going over the single friends she had in her head she wrote a quick owl to Cho, pleased when a reply came back inviting Hermione over for a girls night round hers. Perfect, a distraction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, if I find time during the week i'll post another chapter. Hope everyone is doing okay!


	14. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! Hope everyone is well :)

The chill air outside greeted Draco with open arms, and god did he need it. As if his head wasn’t already plagued with images of Granger, now thoughts of her pinned underneath him swam freely around in his skull. Walking as fast as he could to the Italian Blaise had booked the table at, he glanced in the window, slightly taken aback to see a far more sophisticated date than he’d been expecting. 

She was the only one sitting alone in the restaurant full of sappy couples. Catching her eye as he opened the door Draco let the concierge take his coat before he went over to join her. He fixed a charming grin on his face, heading over to the table and greeting her with a kiss on each cheek. 

“Draco Malfoy I presume?” Draco pulled back and got a good look at her. Standing almost as tall as him in her heels, her blonde hair framing her face perfectly. Draco’s grin quickly became genuine, nodding at her before taking a seat. 

“And who might you be?” 

“Candice, Candice Delacour.” 

“Delacour?”

“Fleur is a distant cousin of mine, I studied in Beauxbatons, if you’re wondering why you haven’t seen me before.” She flashed Draco a smirk that rivaled his own. Tonight was going to be fun. 

The night went on with cutting banter, the type of humour he shared with Blaise, that also annoyed the hell out of Pansy. Blaise had done well, she was different enough from Pansy for him to feel like he was moving on, but something about the set up seemed to be a bit more than just a hookup. 

By the time they finished their deserts the unspoken question of what was going to happen the rest of the night hung in the air. Draco twirled his wine in its glass, leaning on to his elbows with the intention of finding out. But she beat him to it. 

“I guess you’re wondering if you can make it back to mine tonight.”

“Correct, but i have a feeling you’re not the type to give in so easy on the first date?” Candice leaned back in her chair, taking a long sip of wine out her glass, enjoying the feeling of the Malfoy heir watching her throat as she tipped her head back. 

“I'm not the type to be ignored after the first date... “ Draco looked at her puzzled. Candice set her glass down giving him a knowing smirk. 

“Blaise told me what happened, not everything, but enough to know you’re not looking for an... emotional attachment right now.” Draco raised his eyebrow, leaning back in his chair, suddenly far more intrigued with the women across the table from him than he had been all night. 

“So what do you propose?” 

“A deal of sorts, we behave like a couple in public, and we get the… physical parts of a relationship we both crave, but with none of the romantic or emotional stuff in between.” Draco looked in to his wine glass, considering the offer. 

“Why fake our interest in public, surely it would be easier to just keep this relationship between us?”

“We could, but my family have been breathing down my neck about finding someone, and an image of me and you splashed across the paper would drive them up the wall.” Draco couldn’t help but respect her rebelliousness. 

“And what would be in it for me? I can’t say the idea of Skeeter’s minions chasing me around again is very appealing.” Candice leant forward on to her elbows again, sitting her chin on her hand and looking past his eyes straight in to the back of his skull. 

“To make the bitch jealous of course, you can’t tell me you don’t want her to suffer, to make her feel that burning in her stomach knowing you’ve recovered so fast.” His smirk widened, she wasn’t wrong. 

Picking up his glass he held it out to Candice. 

“To satisfaction.” Candice grinned at him, tapping her glass gently against his. 

“To satisfaction.” Finishing his wine Draco signalled the waiter for the bill, eager to continue their evening. 

* * *

Hermione had ended up heading to work straight from Cho’s. The evening was well spent talking about romance novels they both loved, baking far too many cookies then eating as many of them as they wanted to. 

It meant a slightly longer commute in to work but Hermione couldn’t quite get over the prospect of Draco coming home after his… evening, or Draco not coming home at all. Both scenarios gave Hermione butterflies just thinking about it, not that she could put her finger on why. 

Work was mostly spent updating Flo on everything that had happened, leaving out the whole ‘clumsy Draco’ incident, the whole affair bringing too much warmth to her cheeks to be sensible. It was just embarrassment, definitely. 

By the time she made it home the evening of socialising caught up with her, and Hermione found herself massaging her back in the lift up to the flat. As the lift doors opened Hermione could hear Draco’s shower going. 

Her thoughts instantly filled with questions, has he only just got home? So the date went well? Very well? He obviously needed it? Hermione bit her lip, focussing on the pain for a second before taking a few deep breaths and clearing her head. 

Scolding herself for being so inappropriate, not only was he her land lord but he was Draco fucking Malfoy, not just some guy she had a meet cute with! Why should she have any opinion whatsoever on his private life. 

Sorting herself out Hermione slid into her room, reminding herself to start creating some concrete mental boundaries. 

Even if for her own self preservation. Putting her stuff away from her sleepover Hermione decided that a shower seemed like a great idea. 

Charming some pasta to boil until it was done she jumped in the shower, letting the stress melt from her shoulders slightly before getting out the shower, rushing to the kitchen to finish her dinner. Noting the shower still running from Draco’s room. It was only when she’d sat on the sofa with her dinner that Draco finally emerged from his room. 

Draco had heard Hermione come in ages ago, but some bizarre guilt that festered in him kept worrying that she’d be able to smell Candice’s perfume on him. Not that he had a reason to be worried, she was going to find out about it pretty soon anyways. 

Finally stepping out of his room after his indulgent shower Draco glanced at Hermione. She looked up at him, pressing her lips together in an awkward yet genuine smile before looking back to the book she had floating in front of her. 

Draco nodded to himself, pleased that she wasn’t going to try and feign a conversation and comfortable with the quiet in the room. Fixing himself some food he mused over telling Granger about his relationship, it wasn’t that he felt like he needed to explain anything to her; of course not, he just wondered how she’d react seeing his picture inevitably splashed all over the paper. 

Charming his dishes to wash themselves Draco began walking towards his room, deciding that it wasn’t information Hermione needed to know. 

But he stopped in his doorway, it may not be her business to know his private life, but if his private life could infringe on her security then she deserved to know. 

Stepping back out of his room Draco leant on the door frame, looking to Hermione to find her already looking at him curiously. The ember in the back of her eyes caught him by surprise, the curiosity that made her the brightest witch of her age suddenly visible on her features. 

Draco realised his words had gotten caught in his throat, his mouth left open. Shooting her an uncharacteristically awkward grin he turned to face her properly. 

“Did you have a nice date?” Hermione’s question took him off guard. Looking back to her Draco saw the ember had grown slightly. 

“Yes, actually I did. It’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Draco’s candour surprised Hermione, she had tried to tease him slightly but the pace of his mind worked just as quickly as her own, something she wasn't quite used to, yet. 

“Oh?” Hermione waved the book in front of her to settle on the coffee table as she turned to face him. 

“You’re probably going to see me in the papers, in the next few weeks, or days, and I just wanted to assure you that the security here won’t be jeopardised.” Draco looked back at Hermione, she was staring out the windows, whatever thoughts she was having she obviously pushed them away before greeting him with a more genuine smile than she had beforehand. 

“I wouldn't have assumed otherwise.” Hermione felt a mixture of emotions in her stomach, she couldn’t help but feel flattered that he’d been considerate again; but the fact that his date had gone well, so well that it was going to be public knowledge, still made her stomach knot. She glanced at him, he was obviously debating if his decision to tell her was the right one or not. 

“I'm glad.” 

“Pardon?” Draco’s eyes glanced to Hermione’s again. 

“I’m glad your date went well.” Hermione's genuine smile caught Draco, feeling a smirk grace his own lips.

“Me too.” Draco let his smirk turn into a smile briefly before ducking in to his room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another super short chapter, it's been a busy few weeks, but if I find the time I'll treat you all to another chapter. Comment and like and everything, it makes my week when I see you all commenting!


	15. Photographs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day my lovelies! <3 I honestly love every single one of you all for reading my fic and liking it and leaving such sweet comments, so I thought i'd treat you all with another chapter! 
> 
> I've also only just realised that the last chapter I posted was set during Valentines day, which means the fic is kinda keeping up with our current time of year as i'm posting it, which is both pretty cool and completely unintentional! But a happy accident all the same. 
> 
> Anyways as usual, enjoy!

True to his word Hermione’s morning paper featured an annoyingly attractive candid photo of Draco kissing a blonde bombshell of a witch goodbye outside a cafe on a quieter road off Diagon Alley. Hermione wasn’t surprised, Draco had given her a heads up after all, but the fact him and his date had chosen to finish their night together in such a well known location made it more than obvious that Draco was making this relationship public intentionally. 

Hermione instantly thought up a number of questions before clearing her mind, using her occlumency training to squirrel the information in to a ‘do not disturb’ box in the back of her brain before summoning her diary to double check her weekend plans. A morning at the Potter’s again, perfect. 

Checking the time Hermione remembered that she and Ginny had organised brunch together this time, and it was just bordering on 9:30. Throwing on some jeans and an oversized cream jumper Hermione opened her door, relieved to find Draco already up and reading a paper in the living room. At least this week she wouldn’t have to wake him up to use the floo. 

“Morning!” Hermione made herself known, heading to the door to slip on some shoes. Glancing over to Draco to catch him nodding in her direction. 

She thought for a second about just cutting to the chase and going to Ginny’s, but it felt so unnatural to her, being so blunt with someone. 

“Nice photo, in the paper.” Draco caught her eye again, smirking slightly before looking back to his own paper, flipping it closed to look at the moving image, 

“Could’ve been worse I guess.” Hermione scoffed.

“‘Could’ve been worse?’ I don’t think i’ve looked that good in any photo, let alone unintentionally!” Draco chuckled. 

“You obviously didn’t get the paper in fourth year… Do you need to use the floo again?” Hermione was taken aback, her mind not catching the reference quick enough before he guessed what she was leading up to. 

“Um, yeah, if that’s okay.” Focussing on what was currently going on she saw Draco nod towards his room. 

“Go ahead, do you know when you’ll be back? Just so I’m not in bed this time.” Hermione could hear the smirk in his voice, making her way in to his room and trying to avoid being too visibly awkward. 

“Around 3, 4 at the latest I think.” She looked through Draco’s room to see him throw another tight smile over his shoulder at her before he went back to his paper, the mischief of his previous comment forgotten. 

As she stepped in to the fireplace Hermione’s brain went back to Draco’s comment, fourth year huh, that would be the year of the TriWizard tournament… and the yule ball. Hermione tried to think back to any papers that stood out to her, but after Skeeter wrote shit about her and Harry during the first challenge Hermione hadn’t properly looked at any more of her tabloids. 

Ginny’s beaming smile brought Hermione out of her trance, her joy infecting Hermione instantly. 

“Gin!!” Hermione stepped straight out the fireplace and into a hug, squeezing her friend before hearing the telltale tumbling footsteps of Harry coming down the stairs. 

“Hermione is that you?” Ginny pulled away, looking back towards the staircase. 

“Who else would it be, genius!” Hermione laughed, detaching herself from Ginny to give Harry a hug. The three instantly falling in to their routine of banter and catching up about their lives between the last time they met. 

Despite the respite of seeing her friends it still felt wrong keeping something so big from them. She had almost settled on telling Ginny over the week and with Draco being so well behaved, but not with Harry here, she just couldn’t quite face the argument that would probably ensue. 

After they had tidied their food away Hermione found her mind floating back to Draco’s comment again, the sound of Harry saying his name pulling her out of her thought process. 

“Pardon?” Hermione looked at Harry who had been joking about something to Ginny. 

“Oh, I was just asking if you’d seen the newspaper this morning? Malfoy is back on the front page.” Hermione pursed her lips, realising she had to start diminishing their hatred somehow. 

“Oh yeah I did actually, the Delacour girl right? At least he is over the whole ‘blood traitor’ issues.” Hermione looked in to the mostly empty cup of tea in front of her and praying her passivity wasn’t noticeably out of character. Her comment obviously took Harry and Ginny by surprise slightly, Harry drying his hand on the tea towel and leaning against the counter. 

“I mean prejudice or not the guy is still a dickhead.” Hermione couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Harry!” 

“What? Where is this coming from ‘Mione? You hate him as much, no, even more than the rest of us.” Hermione took a sip from her mug, forming a sensible answer before speaking. 

“I don’t know, just been reading a lot about old death eaters for the case at work and he’s really turned his life around.” Harry and Ginny looked at each other, shrugging before Harry picked up his coffee and passed Ginny hers. 

“I guess I’ll just have to see it myself before I believe it.” Ginny nodded at him, taking her mug. Feeling the slight tension in the room Hermione realised that she had the perfect opportunity to find out about something else. 

“Speaking about newspapers, Harry do you still have some from Hogwarts?” Harry’s face relaxed again, his happier childhood memories visible behind his eyes. 

“I mean I don’t, but Gin didn’t your mum collect a few of the good ones?” 

“A few? My mum collected all of the good ones, and some of the bad ones too.” Hermione’s ears perked up. 

“Do you have them here?” 

“Yeah I do actually? How come?” Hermione quickly thought up something believable. 

“I realised that i don’t have any photos from school after the fire, and I don’t think I ever had any from the Yule ball, just thought it might be a funny memory to have in the new place.” Ginny set down her mug and squeezed Harry’s arm before heading towards the door. 

“Sure thing! I’ll go have a rummage, why don’t you show Harry the stuff that we sorted out for the wedding last week!” 

“Great!” Hermione and Harry’s voices rang out in unison which instantly made them both laugh. Hermione pulled the binder out from her bag and laid it down on the table, going through everything her and Ginny had settled on while listening out for the creak of the stairs. 

By the time she had covered everything Ginny bounced in to the kitchen, dropping a box of old papers on to the table.

“These were all from fourth year, if that's what you wanted! I found some other nice ones as well but you had mentioned the Yule ball.” Hermione beamed at Ginny, forcing her curiosity back while she thanked her friend for going through the effort of finding them. 

Pulling out some papers and rifling through them Ginny and Harry cooed over the photos of them as children. 

“Oh the Yule ball right! Here you go ‘mione!” Ginny shook the paper open in front of herself. 

“Woah, Hermione, you really did look stunning, I’d almost forgotten.” Ginny passed Hermione the paper, picking up another and bursting in to laughter at Ron’s face in the background of the moving image.

The moving image was of Hermione in the air being picked up and swung round by Victor, her smile bright and the movement showing her laughing at Victor’s display of affection. 

She really did look beautiful, as beautiful as she remembered feeling before Ron had ruined it. Hermione felt a blush rise to her cheeks before she could help herself. Draco remembered this. 

This paper, that evening, her beautiful candid smile splashed over the papers. 

Ginny’s laughs grew louder as she found some images of Harry mid-realization that he was part of the tournament. Her laugh gently snapping Hermione from the image of Draco’s mischievous grin from this morning. 

“Everything okay there ‘mione?” Hermione looked at her glowing friend. 

“Yeah all's good! Just feeling nostalgic.” Ginny beamed at her before glancing at the wedding folder Hermione and Harry had left open on the table. 

“Want to get started on some more stuff?” Ginny nodded furiously, pulling up a chair between Harry and Hermione. 

A few hours flew by, all three of the old friends surprised when their clock chimed three o’clock. 

“I’d better be getting back!” Hermione almost looking forward to spending the afternoon in the flat.

“It’s been lovely having you here my love!” Both Harry and Ginny dragging Hermione in to a tight hug, she felt some stress melt from her bones before she pulled away. Making her way towards the fireplace. 

“Oh! Before you go! Next week, could you meet me on Diagon Alley next week?” 

“Yeah sure, how come?” Ginny held Hermione’s hands and suppressed a grin. 

“Dress shopping!” The squeal that Hermione produced wasn’t one she ever thought she’d make. 

“Oh my God yes!!! Where! When? Who else is coming?” Ginny squeezed her hands. 

“You, my mum obviously, and Luna, I don’t really want it to be packed. And 11, when the shop saw it was me they said they’d provide food and drink as well, so have a small brunch before coming… Oh! And wear some neutral underwear, I want to put you and Luna in your bridesmaids dresses too.” Hermione could almost feel tears pricking her eyes. 

“Okay, okay! I can’t wait! I really can’t! See you next week Gin!” Hermione pulled Ginny in for another hug before waving bye to Harry. “See you at work!” 

“See you there ‘mione!” 

Hermione muttered the address under her breath as the flames rose around her. The grin uncontrollable on her face as she felt the pull of the floo. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! I really loved writing this chapter, hope you all enjoyed reading it as well. 
> 
> Back to our regular Friday updates :)


	16. Laughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a nice week! Enjoy!

Draco heard the flames roar from his room, choosing to keep his eyes trained on his paper until Hermione walked in. 

He knew he had slipped up slightly this morning, he always enjoyed causing chaos when he was tired. But he shouldn’t have indulged himself, he was seeing Candice now, and Granger was not only his flatmate, well tenant, but she was, well, Granger. 

But a small, idiotic part of his brain was glad she was home. Hearing her walk out of his room Draco glanced up to catch what could only be described as pure joy on her face. 

“Good day then?” He hadn’t meant to say anything, but he couldn’t stop himself, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes misted over, but lit up, shining with the afternoon sun that was blasting through the windows. 

Hermione looked at him and nodded. Her smile almost contagious.

A silence hung in the air, growing thicker as Draco couldn’t help but take her in. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt the way she was feeling now, or if he ever really had; and it really was something to behold. 

Hermione knew Draco had been looking at her for longer than he should have, and she knew it should feel weird or creepy. But she didn’t really mind it, there was a curiosity behind his eyes, and part of her simply didn’t mind him looking at her. 

His grey eyes lit up with the sun, his glasses glaring a little, his eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. 

Hermione pressed her lips together in to a smile before she adjusted her bag and continued to her room. Her movement breaking Draco from his trance. 

Letting out the breath he had caught in his chest, Draco charmed the kettle to fill up and boil before looking back at his book. He had been hovering it in front of his face for a while, but his loss of concentration just then had caused it to sink towards the coffee table. 

Clenching his jaw he pulled his book back up to his eye level, pretending to read it as Hermione came back in to the living room in her oversized pyjamas. 

Hermione saw Draco looking back at his book, hearing the kettle going already, she went into the kitchen, grabbing what she needed to make a cup of earl grey before stopping. 

“Would you like anything? Malfoy?” 

“Earl grey please.” 

“How do you take it?”

“Black, one sugar.” Hermione bustled round the kitchen for a second, before walking towards the living room holding her own tea and book and floating Draco’s in front of her, manoeuvring it over to Draco who nodded at her as he grabbed it by the handle. 

“Thanks.” Hermione smiled back, the happiness still there behind her eyes, just more subtle this time. 

Setting herself down on the sofa, Hermione and Draco saw the evening in silently, but content. Both of them throwing together simple dinners before returning to their spots. 

It was only once it hit 10 that Hermione felt her eyelids begin to droop. Sending her nearly finished book to her room and the dishes to be washed up she wished Draco a good night before going to her room. Her mind was happy with not only a lovely morning, but a relatively perfect afternoon spent reading. 

* * *

Draco woke up in the afternoon on Sunday, enjoying the lie in before work swung around on Monday, he knew it was going to be busy, long hours to catch up on all the things he missed. 

He could smell a coffee in the kitchen by the time his eyes finally willingly peeled open. Wow, 3pm, definitely a good lie in. Slipping on his glasses he caught the image of him and Candice on the paper again. 

He was shocked the press even fell for it, they might have well put flashing lights up before they had breakfast, but he wasn’t mad about it. The fact it was in the paper meant he didn’t have to awkwardly tell his colleagues about the breakup, and it also meant they didn’t have the chance to tease him about being a bachelor either. 

His brain swinging back to the smell of coffee, Draco got out of bed. Throwing a jumper on to fight the cold he opened the door to find it empty. A small sense of disappointment caused Draco to furrow his brow. He had been expecting to see her. 

His eyes followed his nose again as he noticed a steaming cup of coffee accompanied by two little pieces of paper on the island. His lips tugged in to a smirk before he could stop himself. Making his way over to the mug Draco picked up the note as he took a sip of his coffee. 

_ Out for a long walk, I’ll be back late. Have a nice Sunday Malfoy.  _

_ P.S. You were right, I didn’t get the paper in fourth year.  _

Draco was puzzled for a second before he saw the other piece of paper on the counter. It was the exact picture he had made a comment about, Hermione in her Yule Ball outfit being swung round by the great oaf himself. 

Draco clenched his jaw, trying not to let the gesture confuse him, before he noticed a little scribble on the picture. Picking it up he saw that Hermione had circled something in the background of the image. 

It was him, staring at the couple in the centre and looking like thunder. A little arrow coming off the circle. 

_ Evidence Draco Malfoy can be caught off guard.  _

Draco wanted to be angry or offended by the comment, but she was right, he looked like a spoilt brat. He felt himself laugh before he could help it. Going to put the picture down to grab a quill and piece of paper before noticing some more writing appear under the previous note. 

_ Good to know you agree! And you’re right, I don’t look half bad.  _

Draco’s smirk broke in to a smile, it was relatively complicated magic for the witch to just conjure up on a Sunday morning. And yet she still kept up with him, even from yesterday. How did she even find this picture? 

Draco chuckled again, her comment reminding him of another photo he had knocking around somewhere in the flat. Draco summoned a quill and some parchment, writing a reply before rummaging through the small box of sentimental belongings he had brought with him from home. 

It didn’t take him long to find the picture, grinning to himself at the memory before he folded it up with the note, settling in to his Sunday afternoon as if he hadn’t slept in all morning. 

By the time it was dark Draco couldn’t help but wonder where Hermione had gone, or when she would get back. Any other witch and he would’ve been worried but he knew better when it came to her, he’d been on the receiving end of her more than once and he pitied the wizard who underestimated her. 

Despite his excess of sleep Draco could already feel his bed calling back to him. It was only 6pm but he’d made enough food to just indulgently sit in his room ready for an early night, and an earlier morning. 

He started heading to his room, sending his book and the rest of his food in before him before he hesitated. It must be bloody cold today, he could see the mist in the streets all day. 

Remembering Hermione’s gesture from this morning he bustled round the kitchen for a short while before continuing back to bed. 

* * *

Hermione couldn’t help but spend the day outside. The past few busy weeks had left her feeling cooped up indoors, and regardless how cosy those the flat felt, nothing beat a few hours of walking round a sleepy Sunday in London, anyways, she had never gotten round to doing any of her own personal clothes shopping, and she needed some appropriate underwear to bring to the dress fitting with Ginny. 

The afternoon ran in to the evening sooner than Hermione anticipated. By the time Hermione greeted the receptionist it was pushing half 6, and Hermione was freezing. While her scarf and hat had beat the cold while the sun was out the second the sun had set the cold got through to her bones. 

The lift greeted her warmly and Hermione couldn’t help but think of how nice a hot drink will be, curled up in bed with a few snacks and a good book, nothing beat it. Counting down the floors until her own Hermione held back a grin when the warm air of the flat rushed into the lift. 

Stepping inside Hermione felt the blood rush to her cheeks, the smell of something warm and sweet floating down her throat as she took her coat off. 

She turned around to see a mug of hot chocolate, obviously with a warming charm on the liquid, but the whipped cream on top perfectly formed in to a little peak. 

Hermione saw something dusting the top of the whipped cream, with a little note folded and slid under the mug. Smiling privately in to her scarf, Hermione felt her cheeks flush even more. Slipping in to her room she got in to her pyjamas before heading to pick up her drink. 

Draco had obviously cast a warming spell on the liquid but not on the cream, and on closer inspection there were little flecks of red dusting the cream, and it smelt slightly minty. 

Almost embarrassed by how kind the gesture was, Hermione picked up the hot chocolate and the note, returning to her room to avoid Draco catching her off guard again. 

Curling up under the covers Hermione took a sip of her drink, it was perfect, he had obviously made it with real chocolate, but she didn’t expect he knew what instant hot chocolate was in the first place. Opening the note she realised that it was actually two bits of paper. 

_ I think you’ll find you’re normally the one responsible for catching me off guard. _

_ Hope you had a good Sunday Granger.  _

Hermione was puzzled by the note until she saw the image he had folded in with the note. 

It was what could only be a family image of him from third year. His father looking angrier then usual, and his mother visibly trying to conceal laughter, but Draco looked out of sorts, his features twisted in to a grimace that he often threw Hermione’s way when she got higher marks than him in lessons. 

Looking closer at the image Hermione could see why, the short movement was of Draco trying to conceal his nose before his father tapped his shoulder, forcing Draco to drop his hand to reveal a bruised and swollen nose. His mother obviously finding the whole exchange funny. 

Hermione burst out laughing, the combination of the photo in front of her and the memory of punching Draco making her lungs heave and her cheeks hurt. 

She tried to compose herself a couple of times but each time she caught sight of Draco’s childlike scowl or the bubbling laugh in Narcissa’s face and she lost it again. 

Placing her mug down on her bedside table, Hermione picked up a pen and piece of paper and wrote a little reply, sending it straight to Draco’s room before she thought twice about it. 

Wiping the tears of laughter that had nestled in her eyelashes she picked her mug back up and pulled her book out from under her pillow, snuggling under her duvet ready for the rest of her cosy evening. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about song recommendations recently but I think i'm more curious if there are any songs you guys have been listening to while reading the fic, or any that you've thought would suit the chapters? 
> 
> I'd love to hear your suggestions! As always, like and comment. And I love yall!


	17. The Dress Fitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Draco heard Hermione laugh from his room, the noise contagious, especially when he knew the exact memory she was thinking of, or simply the fact that he had caused it. Letting a chuckle escape his throat he rolled awake from the half-sleep he had fallen in to since hearing Granger come in. 

Lying on his back he looked to the picture of Candice again, this was nothing, these notes. It was just two people finding normality. And even if it was something, this was the point of his and Candice’s agreement, no strings, just sex and someone to keep up appearances with. 

Not that Granger knew that… and she doesn’t need to either. Draco’s brain was too tired to process the emotions attached to the thoughts swirling around his head. Turning on to his side he heard the sound of a piece of paper sliding under his door, looking back over his shoulder to see a little slip of paper float to his bedside table. 

Draco thought about ignoring it, just falling asleep and leaving it until the morning, but his curiosity won him over. Rationalising that he could reply in the morning before he left. 

_ You catch me off guard every day Malfoy.  _

_ Thank you for the mint hot chocolate, it made my Sunday even better.  _

_ I’ll have to return the favour next time.  _

Draco’s smile returned, summoning his quill and some parchment and writing a reply before folding it up and leaving it on his bedside table, before burying his face in his pillow. Pretending to think about work as he drifted off. 

* * *

The week flew by for both Draco and Hermione. 

Draco had started a company after the war that dealt with the safe and legal removal of dark artefacts. Post-war it turned out there were a huge amount of wizards on both sides of the battle that had things they wanted to get rid of but just didn’t know how. Draco had originally set up the company himself, but after having to contact the ministry more and more he was eventually forced to merge with them, his business becoming another cog in the barely functioning machine that was the ministry. 

As it was his business he had a huge amount of control, more than most would, but the combination of a couple of weeks off and a few high profile hate crimes meant his week back flew by. With the monotony only broken up by a few visits to Candice throughout the week to keep him sane. 

Hermione’s week was similar, her house visits rushed and inconclusive and the paperwork and research that followed was mind numbing. She had been meaning to read the note Draco had left her all week, but his absence from the flat on Tuesday night reminded her where she stood with him. Not that the notes even meant anything, she had just been too busy, that was all. 

By the time Saturday came around Hermione was practically buzzing with excitement, and a little apprehension. She had decided to tell Ginny about Draco, organising to have a light brunch with her friend before the dress appointment. Hoping that getting it off her chest would mean she could enjoy the day fully. 

Diagon Alley was practically buzzing, Hermione having to cast a glamour to make it through the badly disguised reporters and journalists. Ginny’s red hair only visible when she saw her waiting in their favourite cafe. 

It took Ginny a second to recognise her, but when she did her smile almost dispersed the butterflies that had settled in Hermione’s stomach. Hermione practically ran through the door of the cafe, squeezing Ginny tight, both of them squealing in excitement at the day ahead. 

“Gin!!! It’s so good to see you! How are you feeling!” Hermione sat down, making herself comfortable. 

“I feel drunk! It doesn’t feel real! I’m glad we are doing this though, it's settling the nerves a bit.” Hermione felt a pang of guilt before gesturing at the waitress to order. They both asked for their usual’s, accompanied by a little drink to get the day going. 

“So! You said you had something you wanted to chat about ‘mione! Hope we haven’t scared you off from being the maid of honour already!” Hermione laughed. 

“Oh god no! No I just…” Hermione felt the anxiety rise in her chest, the feeling cloying and overwhelming. Taking a deep breath she took a sip of her drink and looked at Ginny’s now slightly worried face. 

“It’s about my flatmate, well, landlord.” 

“If he’s tried anything on ‘mione you know he’s a dead man.” 

“No! No, nothing like that. He's actually, he’s been lovely really. But, well…” Hermione didn’t know how to say it, the words getting caught in her throat every time she tried to get them out, taking another deep breath Hermione looked squarely at Ginny. 

“He’s Draco, my flatmate is Draco Malfoy.” Hermione watched Ginny process what she’d said, swilling her glass in her hand and tapping her leg under the table. 

Ginny sat expressionless for a while, taking a few long sips of her drink and visibly processing the information. After what felt like an age Ginny looked at Hermione, clenching her jaw before finally speaking.

“Is he treating you well?” Her tone stoic and emotionless. 

“He really is, he’s been really considerate and understanding.” Ginny reached over the table and gave Hermione’s hand a squeeze, her features still concerned but slightly more relaxed.

“Then i’m glad you’ve got a good flatmate.” Ginny smiled tightly at Hermione, her eyes genuine if not slightly worried. 

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Hermione felt her chest expand fully. Putting her other hand over Ginny’s and holding it firmly. 

“You and Harry had been through so much recently, and he wasn’t exactly our best friend in Hogwarts! He tried to kill Dumbledore, and broke Harry’s nose once! I just, I just didn’t know how you would all take it.” 

“But he’s changed right?” Hermione nodded, sitting back in her chair. 

“He’s been a godsend really, changing the contract to suit me better, he even eats at a muggle restaurant near the flat. He really is a different man than he was at Hogwarts.”

“I’m glad, i’m not going to pretend that I like the guy or that I even trust him, but i’m happy that you’re happy, and safe. And you know if either of those things change then i’ll send him to Azkaban myself.” Ginny grinned, the expression slightly forced, but reassuring to Hermione all the same. 

“I’m sorry I kept this from you! And i’m sorry i made such a big deal about it, especially today!” 

“No, no apology needed, it’s a weird situation, and I could tell something was up anyways, i’m just glad we can start gossiping about him! When do you think you’ll tell Harry?” Hermione laughed.

“I have no idea, just promise me you’ll help me out when I get round to it, in case he says anything about Malfoy before I get round to telling him.”

“I’ll do my best, as long as you promise me you’ll tell him next week, okay?” 

“I promise.” As if on queue the waitress floated their food over, giving the pair their cutlery and leaving the girls to enjoy their morning, the food being the perfect distraction from their previous conversation. 

Hermione and Ginny got to the dress shop a few minutes early, Luna turning up just on time with Molly running in a couple minutes late. 

The dress shop was beautiful, wedding gowns had grown in to such a huge industry as there were so many weddings after the war, magic being used in new and breathtaking ways with the fabrics. 

The main room was huge, two seating areas lit by natural sunlight with two huge walk in wardrobes behind them and a corridor in the middle, opposite the main entrance that led to the changing rooms and the staff area. The whole room seemed as if it danced, the patterns on the dresses moving and champagne flutes floating on glass trays around the room. 

Molly came in to greet the girls and instantly burst into tears, running over to give the girls a hug.

“It’s happening! It’s finally happening!! I can’t believe that boy took so damn long!” Hermione and Ginny laughed, Luna already distracted by the moving patterns on the dresses. 

“Well we’re here now aren’t we!” Ginny squeezed her mum’s and Hermione’s hands calling over Luna as they saw their host make her way over. 

“Miss Weasley! It truly is an honour to meet you, and that you chose our little store to buy your dresses.” The hostess gave Ginny a hug, her excitement radiating off her. “It’s an honour to meet all of you, it really is.” 

Ginny and Hermione smiled at each other, they were used to interactions like this, some days it could get quite annoying, but on occasions like this it just made the event more special. 

“Obviously the dress will be on us, and the bridesmaids dresses will be a fraction of the price, the publicity of you wearing our dresses will be worth every penny. Oh! And my name is Harriet by the way!” Harriet grinned again, holding her hand up to catch one of the floating trays, offering the women a glass each. 

Hermione couldn’t bring herself to say anything just yet, just trying to hold back tears. Her conversation with Ginny had gone so well, and there was a time when normal life like this was something they only dreamed of, and here they were.

Harriet gestured the girls to one of the sofas, Molly grabbing Luna’s hand as she still hadn’t zoned back in to the conversation. 

Hermione took a deep breath, Ginny noticing her glazed over eyes and laughing at her sentimental friend. Hermione couldn’t help but laugh as well, letting some of the tears fall, setting Molly off again. Harriet smiled, giving the women a moment to pull themselves together before sitting on a chair by their side to start the consultation. 

“So, would we like to look at bridesmaids dresses first or the wedding dress?” Ginny looked to Hermione, pulling herself together Hermione pulled out her binder, having a flick through before looking back to her friend. 

“We could do either? Gin?”

“Let’s do your dresses first, get that out the way so I can try on as many dresses as possible.” Ginny’s grin spread from ear to ear as she got another laugh out of Hermione. Luna finally returning to earth as she nodded in agreement. 

“I’d like that too, I need to know what earrings to make.” Luna smiled innocently, obviously as emotional as the others in her own way. 

“Right, shall we start?” 

Harriet was a dream, allowing the girls as much time as they wanted to browse and noting all their requests, finally finding something that suited Luna and Hermione perfectly, allowing them both space to accessorise and make it their own on the day. 

The shop provided a few snacks before Ginny’s fitting came around, bringing out more champagne while she was picking her dress. 

Harriet, who turned out to be the owner and designer of the shop, had sewn up some custom silhouettes, letting Ginny try on a number of dresses that caught her eye before Harriet put Ginny in some custom dresses, bringing out some fabric and examples of how the magic would bring the dress to life before they settled on an idea. 

They all loved the final design, agreeing to keep it a secret from anyone else until the big day. 

By the time the appointment was wrapping up the girls were all tipsy and joking about Harry and Ron’s faces when they eventually see the dresses. As 4 o’clock rolled around Ginny gave Harriet a firm hug goodbye, promising to credit her to the press when the wedding takes place, before pulling out 4 beautiful little envelopes. 

“And before I go, here are some invitations for the engagement party!” Ginny handed one to Harriet first just to see her genuine surprise and gratitude at the invitation. 

“Wow, Miss Weasley this, this is too much thank you!” Harriet gave her another hug, hugging the other women in the party before heading off to fetch their coats. 

Ginny handed out the rest of the invitations, grinning as her and Hermione watched the other two admire the letters and envelopes they’d chosen. 

“Ginny my dear this is still a couple of months off! When is this wedding even going ahead?” 

“It’s only 6 weeks off mum, we're planning the wedding for around September to October, but we want to have the party in the spring, it's too cold to enjoy the outdoors right now and you know how much Harry loves the gardens in the spring.” Ginny’s off hand compliment to Molly’s house brought a blush to her cheeks. 

“Fine, I guess this gives me some time to get it looking perfect.” Ginny grinned at her mum, waving Harriet goodbye before heading out the shop, Luna and Hermione leaving Ginny and her Mum to spend the evening together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chilled, happy chapter this week! Hope you're all enjoying it :)


	18. A Tipsy Back and Forth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so late in the day! It's been one of those. Hope you all enjoy!

Hermione’s tube journey home was a content and hazy one, the day of laughter having been accompanied with a few more glasses of champagne than she had anticipated, and Hermione had made the mistake of apparating while drunk before. 

As the train sped through the underground Hermione couldn’t help but wonder what Draco had been up to, she hadn’t seen him since Thursday evening. He had obviously gone straight to that witch’s place. 

Bumping in to a couple on her way out of the tube station Hermione pictured Draco and that girl stood together as that couple were. They looked so good together, the girls hair almost seemed to match Draco’s in its colour from what she remembered in the paper, and her legs were so long.

She was the type of girl that even Hermione would have been too intimidated to ask out and normally she was more forward when she was picking up girls. Her foggy brain tried to think back to when she last spent the night with someone, anyone even, but it had been so long. And that girl was just so gorgeous. 

The cold air did nothing to sober her as she approached her building, the sun beginning to set and Hermione’s brain bouncing round between her own romantic experiences and what Draco and his girlfriend probably got up to last night. 

Pushing against the door Hermione struggled to get in before remembering to pull her wand out of her pocket, trying not to laugh at her own stupidity as she nearly fell through the revolving doors. 

“Miss Granger! Everything alright?” The receptionist stood up from behind the desk as Hermione stumbled in to foyer, but Hermione waved at her to sit down. 

“Of course! I'm fine! Just had a good day is all, sorry! I must look like such a state!” Hermione smiled at her, trying to look more sensible as she got in to the lift. 

“Have a nice day!” As the lift doors closed Hermione groaned, pressing her forehead against the cold metal doors, enjoying the vibrations that travelled through her skull. Closing her eyes Hermione tried to remember what she had been thinking about before she’d made a complete fool of herself.

As the doors opened to the flat Hermione saw the lights on in the living room, for a second she was tempted to run straight in her room and hide, but her Gryffindor side scolded her. 

Hermione walked in to the flat, leaning against the the wall for a second before heading to the kitchen to get herself some water. 

Draco had heard the lift coming up, almost apprehensive to see Hermione after a week of zero contact, but he hadn’t seen her like this before. 

She had obviously been drinking, her cheeks flushed and her pupils wide. The alcohol causing her hair to frizz and her movements to be sluggish, but she was more dressed up than he’d ever seen her, her heels showing off her legs and the gentle glow of eyeshadow making her eyes hard to look away from. 

Draco didn’t know how to behave, his normal stoic disposition telling him to sneak in to his room before she noticed he was there, it wasn’t like she would notice. But then again, if tipsy Granger was even half as bright as sober Granger then this could be interesting. 

His curious side won out, making his way past the kitchen island Draco purposefully cleared his throat before leaning against the kitchen counter, watching the witch turn around and lean against the sink. Running a hand through her hair and finishing her glass of water before turning around and pouring herself another one. 

“God why am I such a mess!” Hermione laughed at herself before turning back around to face Draco. The soft lighting reminding her of the night he had come back to the flat drunk. He was dressed similarly now, an unbuttoned shirt with his sleeves rolled up, he must've gone out for lunch. 

Draco looked at the witch, her expression alien to him. He thought about just turning around again, leaving her to sort herself out, but something about her intrigued him. 

“I’ve seen worse. Good day then I take it?” Hermione considered lying, or even omitting some of her day, but the buzz in her brain and his off hand compliment made her want to tell him about it. 

“It was.” Hermione smiled at him. 

“Harry and Ginny are getting married! We went and bought Ginny’s dress today, well designed it, at least.” Draco was taken aback, he hadn’t expected her to open up so easily, the mention of Potter making his skin crawl slightly. He looked back to her, something about her stopped him from barking out his usual remarks about the golden trio and Weasley’s sister. 

Hermione paused, waiting to see if he was going to jump down her throat at the mention on Harry, but he didn’t. His eyes drank her in slowly, and in the state she was in she couldn’t work out what he was thinking for the life of her. His lack of hostility comforting her slightly. Looking in to her glass Hermione continued. 

“And I finally told Ginny that I live with you…” Hermione looked up at Draco, but he avoided her eye contact, walking towards her to put the kettle on. 

“You hadn’t told her before now?” Hermione shook her head, looking at the floor. 

“No, I didn’t know how to really, it sounded too absurd… and we weren't all the best of friends when we last met…” Hermione heard the kettle boil, the switch clicking off and the floor creaking slightly as Malfoy moved. She leant into the counter, the hazy noise floating around her skull making her regret mentioning their school days. 

Hermione looked back to Draco, but he’d gotten so much closer, reaching over her to grab a mug from the cupboard above her head. His proximity making the ringing in her ears even louder, his figure looming over her, knocking the breath out of her lungs. 

“And what does she think of me now?” Hermione watched him as his jaw clenched and moved as he spoke, then as he returned to standing in front of her. He stayed where he was, putting one mug down and looking at the other, holding it between their bodies. The alcohol and his body heat made Hermione blush, his collarbone in the half light reminding her of the last time one of them was drunk. 

“The jury’s still out on that one…” 

Draco felt the heat radiate from Hermione, watching her chest rise as he pretended to look at the mug in his hand. 

Her words reminded him of when he had stumbled in drunk a couple of weeks ago, but she obviously knew that. He still wasn’t sure why he kept stirring things up like this, why she never failed to take him off guard and match him so easily. 

He could see her breaths getting shorter, freckles dusting her collarbone. He couldn’t help but look at her properly, her brown eyes dilated and the makeup she’d put on making her features all the more striking. And the alcohol gave her a different glow to the one she usually just had. 

They were so close, the feeling of her breath on his chest cracking open the memories of the other moments they’d had, his blood instantly rushing south. Gritting his teeth Draco closed his eyes, repressing the thoughts again before stepping backwards. 

“Well let me know when they’ve made their minds up. More chaotic Gryffindors is the last thing this flat needs.” 

Draco’s words brought a smile to Hermione’s face, his dig more teasing than biting. With the humour diffusing the tension slightly Draco started making two teas, not thinking twice about making one for Hermione as she took her heels off. Hermione couldn't help but be grateful Draco hadn’t run away this time, not that she really knew what was going on, and not that her tipsy brain would be able to start processing it. 

Seeing that Draco was still making the teas Hermione went and got in to her pyjamas, feeling far more comfortable, she realised that her weird impulse to bring up their altercation a couple of weeks ago had meant that she hadn’t been totally honest with Draco. 

Leaving her room Hermione saw Malfoy turn around to pass her the mug of tea. 

“Ginny’s actually fine with me being here, but she made me promise to tell Harry next weekend…” Draco raised his eyebrow.

“So golden boy’s gonna know where I live, should I be scared?” Draco held his mug up to his face before pulling it away as the steam fogged up his glasses. 

Hermione tried not to grin at the little movement, pretending that it was his comment that made her smile, still being unable to hide her tipsy reactions. 

“No you’re fine, i’d take Harry over Ginny any day.”

“You’ll remember even I never made that mistake at Hogwarts.” 

“And somehow you still got caught by Filch more than once?”

“Oh come on Granger, weren’t you the one who tried to take on a mountain troll in first year?” Hermione laughed at the memory.

“Actually you’ll find I was in the wrong place at the wrong time! Harry and Ron were the ones who decided they could take it on.” 

“Ahh, now that makes sense, tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber vs a brainless troll, I would’ve paid to see that fight.” Hermione tried to shoot him a scowl, the banter removing the usual chill from her glare. 

“Well let’s hope it’s not recreated when Ron eventually finds out.” Draco returned the glare before processing what Hermione had said. 

“I thought lover boy would be the first one you’d tell?” Hermione coughed up her tea, leaning against her door frame. 

“Oh god no, that ended a few years ago, he’s off working with dragons in Romania now, he’ll be back for the wedding but I probably won’t see him until around then.” 

“Well let me know when to plan a holiday, I don’t want to be put off my food for another few years.” Hermione sent a genuine glare that time, pushing herself off the doorframe and stepping in to her room. 

“Night Malfoy.” Draco grinned behind his mug, feeling cathartic  from finally getting a few insults out of his system, feeling a bizarre smugness knowing Hermione and Ron hadn’t lasted past Hogwarts. 

He’d obviously assumed as much considering she never brought him up, and the fact she was living here, but hearing her say it out loud comforted him for some reason. 

“Night Granger.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really proud of the dialogue in this one, hope you all liked it as well! 
> 
> Its probably obvious but I aim to get as much accurate and respectful representation in the fic as I can :) I will always be a huge supporter of the LGBTQ+ community so expect more diversity as more characters are introduced!
> 
> Stay safe! Love you all!


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